superintendent cortines: some of the details talked about backpacks, other packages. chris: police are investigating the threat and did not provide further details. but officials said they are taking the precaution based on recent terror attacks in san bernardino and overseas. superintendent cortines: as superintendent, i am not going to take a chance with the life of a student. chris: the superintendent ordered authorities to inspect every school by the end of the day. superintendent cortines: i want every school searched to make sure it is safe for children and staff to be there on wednesday in chris: students who were already at school were until they were picked up. board president zimmer: we need the cooperation of the whole of los angeles today. chris: the shutdown affects about 640,000 students at more than 1,000 schools. chris martinez, cbs news, los angeles. mollie: here in iowa the , investigation continues into the hit and run death of an iowa state student. 18-year-old emmalee jacobs, a freshman from urbana, was killed early yesterday morning. an isu polic

los angeles school district superintendent, ramon cortines said recent events and heightened security concerns precipitated the move (ramon c. cortines, superintendent, la unified school district) i think the circumstances in the neighboring san bernardino, i think what has happened in the nation, i think what happened internationally. i as superintendent am not going of a student meanwhile new york authorities said they received a similar threat but said it was important not to overreact. (bill bratton, new york police commissioner) the email that received in new york city, which is similar to and almost exactly the same as received in other locales, specifically los angeles, that we do not see that as a credible terrorist threat and we are investigating it as a hoax. while acknowledging a hoax was possible, l.a. police chief charlie beck said the threat was very specific, and warned against being too critical. (chief charlie beck, los angeles police) southern california has been through a lot in the recent weeks. should we risk putting our children through the same? i'm steve nannes

cortines, was there any threat made to bus? buss were returned to the yards. >> there was not a threat made to buses. the reason they were returned is because we're not picking up students. it was to students at schools. nothing more than that. >> the threat was to students at schools, you said? >> at school students, yes. >> mr. cortines, you mentioned some details regarding packages. you can elaborate on that? >> no, i can't. the chief, after the -- after he's met with the city police and the fbi, he will be making further statements on why i made the decision i made. >> you have more than 900 campuses, are you able to say whether these were elementary schools, high schools? >> let me tell you, i can't take a chance and all schools -- i've asked them to be searched today by the appropriate people. and appropriate people are not necessarily teachers or support people if there is a problem. i want our chief of police working with the city police and working with the sheriff to develop a plan. we have six districts, to work syst

ray cortines/superi ntendent, lausd )) "i want every school searched to make sure it is safe." chris martinez/cbs news, los angeles)) students who were already at school were until they were picked up. the shutdown affects about 640-thousand students at more than 1- thousand schools. chris martinez, cbs news, los angeles. was routed through an ip address in germany, but los angeles police suspect the actual source is quote "much closer." they would not elaborate./// ((sharie johnson)) > we reached out to ccsd in light of the threat in nearby los angeles. the district says they did not receive any threats, but are prepared to take appropriate action if needed. in a statement, ccsd said quote: "the district has crisis response plans in place, and we are proud to have a dedicated police force who patrol our campuses and are trained to detect and respond to threats." the district went on to say they have many security measures in place to prevent crime and protect our students./// ((sharie johnson)) we turn our attention now to our other top story of the day.. the republican presid

on cortines lausd los angeles .. >> martha: what a day.tay on this story throughout the next couple hours. >> bill: "happening now" starts now. see you later. >> jenna: a threat forcing to shutdown nation's largest second school district. i am jenna lee. >> jon: and i am jon scott. the los angeles' schools are closed because of a threat. we have more live from los angeles. >> reporter: they get threats all of the time but this was rare enough to act. it was an unspecified threat at an unspecified school. officials say it came as an electronic threat. a local tv station is reporting it was an e-mail.

the gentleman in the jell-o baseball cap ramon cortines he's the superintendent of los angeles schoolse decision. close them all down, and search every single one of those schools. now, in the los angeles unified school district, there are 900 schools. all of them have to be closed -- have to be searched thoroughly, and are 640,000 students in that school system. all of them have to go home. this causes enormous disruption throughout southern california. picture it. 640,000 children who should be in school will, in fact, be at home. what happens to the parents? what happens to the parents going to work in this is enormous disruption all around that's where we stand at the moment. the superintendent says he'll have a statement later on today about what happens tomorrow at those l.a. schools. >> reuters is reporting this is a credible terror threat reportedly a bomb threat. this is second largest school district ashley expr were just discussing thises in the country behind new york city, and ashley also pointed this out it affects parents too who drop their children off at work and thref

cortines / lausd :25 - :36) "based on past circumstances, i could not take the chance, as another threat... from the same ip address... and containing some of the same wording.. also was sent to new york city schools. new york police commissioner bill bratton... the former los angeles chief of police... says his department is investigating the email as a hoax. a vastly different reaction than his cross-country counterpart... (s/ mmissioner bill bratton / is not something we are overly concerned with. what we are 1:03 - 1:09) no responsibility for the outcome of that decision. lapd chief charlie beck defends the decision to leave hundreds of thousands of potentially unsupervised students out of "southern california has been through .should we risk putting our children through the same? (s/ student / mos) there have been a lot of school shootings and i was just orried about my brother and happy to be holding loved ones just a little bit closer. jennifer bjorklund nbc news los angeles. the emailed threat mentioned explosive devices, assault rifles and pistols and appeared to originate from

a news conference by, among others, the superintendent of schools ramon cortines, about the momentous and first time ever decision there today to close all the schools in the >> based on past circumstances, i could not take the chance as it relates to one student or our staff that serve our students. it is important that in the last four hours, this city, this community, has come together on behalf of our students, our students that are in the regular schools, our students that are in the charter schools, that are authorized by this school board, we are taking all sorts of precaution. our plant managers are walking the campus with law enforcement people. our plant managers and principals, with law enforcement, are looking at all of our schools, small, large we have made sure that our parents are notified through connect ed messages and we have repeated that time and time again. those students that walked to school, especially young children, neighborhood children, we have had the principals meet and administrators meet them at the gate of the school and they were not dismissed until p

cortines. >> based on past circumstances, kelsey: a decision -- >> what we would be concerned with is overreacting to it. kelsey: calling the decision and overreaction to it. tomorrow, school go on as planned here at desk plant. they have crisis plans in place. they have officers that are trained to track these kind of threats. reporting live tonight, kelsey thomas, news 3. jim: it is two weeks away. she is on the way biggest party of the year. jessica: we will fill you in on the plans to keep party safe as we ring in 2016. kevin: friday morning will begin in the mid 30's. however, there is a warming trend coming your way. it will not last long. randy: to local sports heroes get used to the city from the jim: the strip is going to be crowded and a couple of more weeks. that is how far we are away from the biggest party of the year. who is gearing up like no other? jessica: part of the plan is to keep all of the parties safe. a closer look at the show and security concerns. >> 3, 2, 1. >> it is the party that never disappoints. talking about new year's eve in las vegas brings a shower

we are not sure if superintendent, ramon cortines, consulted with the fbi or lapd before making this decision quote out of abundance of caution. he did say san bernardino was a component in the decision making. what did we learn there? pipe bombs can be made cheaply and easily and black powder is available at any gun store. did that go into the that decision? we don't know. we do know it was serious for them to close down lausd, the second largest district in the country. >> jon: you are saying this is a call that came in? it was described as electronic communication earlier. >> reporter: no, it came in as an e-mail. the los angeles times is saying phone call. >> jenna: we are bringing in the ceo of investigative management, a group that advises on security. this school district has 640,000 students between kindergarten and 12th grade. 900 schools. 187 public charter schools and about 60,000 people employed. what does it take to shutdown an entire district like this? have you seen anyone like this before? >> no, jenna, i haven't. if you look at the proximity to san bernardino here th

todavía creemos que fue de un lugar más cerca que alemania" na31t 0'38 sot superintendent ramon cortinesit was not to one school two schools or three schools. it was manychools. not specifically identified but there were many schools. that's the reason i took the action that i did." "no fue uno, ni dos, ni tres cogio fueron muchos!! aunque especica cualesfueron muchossa es la mil estudiantedesde la edaden" kinder hta secundar tuvieronue quedarse ecasa, algunos estabaen caminouando se enteraron de la noticia. na31t 1'38 sot/ superintendent se enteraron de la noticia. na31t 1'38 sot/ superintendent ramon cortines/ los angeles unified school trict "i amnot taking the chance of bringing children any place, into, into any part of the building until i know it's se "yo no voy atomar s hasta e no sepamos questán recibir algunas criticas, las a respaldaron la decision e inmediatamente la policia se encargo de revisar cada rincon de las casi 1200 escuelas del distrito. na41t 0'28 sot: los angeles mayor eric garcetti "as a parent and as mayor, certainly i'm here to support school district to look a

cortines / lausd :25 - :36) "based on past circumstance s, i could not take the chance, as it relates to one student or our staff that serves our students." another threat... from the same ip address... and containing some of the same wording.. also was sent to new york city schools. bill bratton... the former los angeles chief of police... says his department is investigating the email as a hoax. a vastly different reaction than his cross- country counterpart... (s/ commissioner bill bratton / nypd :56 - 1:02) this is not a credible threat, this is not something we are overly concerned with. what we are concerned about is over reacting to it. (s/ chief charlie beck / lapd 1:03 - 1:09) easy to criticize when you have no responsibility for the outcome of that decision. lapd chief charlie beck defends the decision to leave hundreds of thousands of potentially unsupervised students out of school -- (s/ chief charlie beck / lapd 1:18 - 1:25) "southern california has been through should we risk putting our children through the same? (s/ student / mos) there have been a lot of school shooti

. >> unified school district superintendent ramon cortines got a call this morning from school police about a credible terror threat. >> he shared with me that some of the details talked about backpacks, talked about other packages. it was not to one school, two will schools or three schools, it was many schools. not specifically identified. >> this is the second large of the in the nation with more than 640,000 students. more than 900 schools. a few hours later new york city officials said they received similar threats to their schools but determined it was a hex. l.a. unified is in the process of investigation. f.b.i. and l.a.p.d. are assist asking a massive search at all campuses is underway. >> i want every school every early education center every adult school, i want them search ed and a report made to me and to the board of education. that it is safe. >> we ask for are the patience, the cooperation and support of the city. >> new york's police commissioner said the response is a significant overreaction and officials say it is the responsible thing to do. >> this comes a day af

and superintendent ramon cortines hastily convened a news conference. >> i think it is important that i take the precaution based on what has happened recently and in the past. >> ifill: cortines was referring to the rampage two weeks ago in nearby san bernardino, where a married couple-- syed farook and tashfeen malik-- killed 14 people at a holiday party. as l.a. police fanned out and began checking schools today, officials said the e-mailed threat came from germany and mentioned everything from guns to bombs to nerve gas. for many parents, it was unnerving. >> well it's real, watching from what happened in san bernardino, that's pretty close to home. now this one here, even closer, it's pretty scary. >> confusion, chaos, nervousness. you're not really certain what's going on, what's entailed behind it. there are a lot of different emotions behind that. >> ifill: meanwhile, officials in new york city said they received a similar, if not the same, message. they discounted it as a hoax, possibly based on a tv show. >> we believe the email originated overseas. the language in the email

. >> reporter: los angeles unified school district superintendent ramon cortines said he was comfortable with his decision. >> somebody has sent information that leads us to pause and make children and our staff are safe. >> reporter: hundreds of law enforcement officers were deployed to campuses. police secured buildings, armored vehicles were mobilized, and every school in the district would be searched. given the the terrorist attack less than two weeks ago in nearby san bernardino, los angeles mayor eric garcetti defended the decision to quickly close l.a.'s schools. >> we just gone through a horrible experience of losing loved ones, of seeing that sort of horror right here in our backyard, and i think just as new york did after 9/11, boston after the marathon, there's an abundance caution that may be very regionally specific. >> reporter: 95% of l.a.'s public schools have now been searched and nothing suspicious has been found. scott, we are told that some parents are already receiving e-mails that their kids' schools will be open tomorrow morning. >> pelley: ben tracy in l.a. for u

superintendent who made the call, ramon cortines, was a former superintendent here in san francisco and also a former superintendent at the schools in san jose and one other big city, he ran the schools in new york city. reporting from san francisco, mark mathews, nbc bay area news. >>> schools in the east bay also took note of the threat in l.a., but they say the scare did not reach a level that called for any extra safety measures. >> we get threats here in the school district, bomb threats and other threats, that we vet out over the course of the school year. we handle all the threats as if they're a viable threat until we determine they are not. there wasn't anything that caused us a concern here. >> still ahead on nightly news who may be responsible for all of this and how such threats have become the new normal for americans. nightly news begins at 5:30. >>> only on nbc bay area the photo that made national headlines. here it is. you remember this, a beam slid off of a big rig and went right through the windshield of this bmw. all of this happening on 280. the driver not only surv

superintendent ramon cortines saying the city is still rattled by the terrorist attack in san bernardino two weeks ago. the fbi still investigating why one of the attackers there, syed farook, had pictures of a high school on his phone. the first alert came at 5:00 a.m. that threat e-mailed to a school board member. >> reporter: by 6:32 the decision had been made. >> the superintendent has directed all schools to be closed today, tuesday december 15th, to ensure the safety of all students. >> reporter: abc news learning the note invoked allah and directly referenced the terrorist attack in san bernardino. it also threatened attacks on several schools with suicide bombers, automatic weapons, and grenades. new york city got an almost identical note. >> we are investigating this as a hoax. >> reporter: in los angeles the lapd and sheriff's office combing every single school for suspicious objects. >> they have to take into account the safety of the children of los angeles. i think it's irresponsible based on facts that have yet to be determined to criticize that decision at this point. >> r

superintendent ramon cortines saying this city still rattled in the wake the san bernardino terrorist attack two weeks ago. the fbi still investigationeing why one of the attackers there, syed farook, had pictures of a high school on his phone. the first alert at 5:00 a.m. that threat emailed to a school board commissioner. by 7:00 a.m., the decision had been made. the district issuing these robocalls. abc news learning the letter invoked allah and threatened attacks with bombers, automatic weapons and grenades in schools. new york city, got an almost identical note. >> we do not see that as a credible terrorist threat and we are investigating it as a hoax. >> reporter: making the opposite decision, choosing not to cancel classes. in los angeles this afternoon the lapd and sheriff's office suspicious objects. >> they have to take into consideration for the children of los angeles. i think it's irresponsible, to base on facts that have yet to be determined, to criticize that decision at this point. >> reporter: the cancellations wreaking havoc. parents taking the threat seriously. so,

also, in support of the superintendent of schools ramon cortines.oe fryer is tracking this at hollywood high school in los angeles. joe, i know you said you have seen people sweeping this facility trying to make sure that it's okay, part of the all-clear. as we heard from that parent that i just had the opportunity to speak with, most people feel that this was the right decision. >> reporter: yeah. we're hearing that from parents, too. sort of a split decision here. people talking about it on social media, as well. balancing two things. keep in mind, first of all, 60 miles from san bernardino. so southern california really felt the impact of what happened there a couple of weeks ago and fresh in people's mind and some people say it's better to be cautious in a situation like this and certainly this decision is a big one impacts so many people, more than 600,000 students, more than 900 schools. all the parents now who have to figure out how to handle the kids who aren't in school today. we spoke with a parent coming here to hollywood high school. chr

l-a city superintendent - ramon cortines - closed all of the public schools in the city for the day.... after receiving a threat overnight... reportedly from an i-p address in germany. robo-calls from l-a school officials informed parents early tuesday morning of the decision. some schools even personally called each family in their district to warn them to stay away. officials are visiting all schools in the county to determine the credibility of the threat. los angeles police also urging folks in the area to remain vigilant and report anything suspicious. here in des moines... the school district has had lock-downs from time to time... but nothing like what took place in los angeles today... in the case of threats... the district tells us, "if we were to have any doubt about the safety and well being of our students, we would contact law enforcement, put the situation in their capable hands and follow their lead." the des moines police department is prepared for a variety of threats... mike dasilva has more on how they prepare for these types of events... the des moines bomb squad o

superintendent ramon cortines saying this city is still rattled by the terrorist attack in san bernardino two weeks ago. the fbi still investigating why one of the attackers there, syed farook, had pictures of a high school on his phone. the first alert came this morning at 5:00 a.m. that threat e-mailed to a school board member. by 6:32, the decision had been made. >> superintendent has directed all schools to be closed today, tuesday, december 15th, to insure the safety of all students. >> reporter: abc news learning the note invoked allah and directly referenced the attack in san bernardino. i also threatened to attack several schools with suicide bombers, automatic weapons and grenades. new york city got an almost identical note. >> we have investigating it as a hoax. >> reporter: in los angeles this afternoon, the lapd and the sheriff's office combing every single school for suspicious objects. >> they have to take into account the safety of the children of los angeles. i think it's irresponsible, based on facts that have yet to be determined, to criticize that decision at this point

((ray cortines/superinte ndent, lausd )) "i want every school safe."/// ((chris martinez)) ((paul joncich)) > the clark quick to respond today, saying they did not receive any threats but they are prepared. in a statement they said quote we have many security measures that help prevent crime, from the design of our buildings to diligent staff trained to report any suspicious behavior, as well as surveillance systems in place. they say they have a crisis response plan... and are confident in their police force that patrols their campuses./// day the security threat was sent to school districts in los angeles and new york... a previously scheduled conference on cybersecurity is being held in north carolina... focusing on stopping threats. (( a.r. mullinax/exec. vp strategic services, duke energy: it's important for us to be constantly working to secure our network knowing that we would need to respond and recover very quickly...so we work on the architecture of our company to make it very reliable so that we can continue to isolate instances so that the network as a whole continues to be re

los angeles school district superintendent ramon cortines said recent events and heightened security concerns precipitated the move. >> i think the circumstances in neighboring san bernardino and i think what has happened in the nation and i think what happened internationally, i as superintendent am not going to take the chance with the life of a student. reporter: meanwhile, new york authorities said they received a similar threat but it was important not to overreact. >> the e-mail that was received in new york city, which is similar and almost exactly the same as we see in other locals, specifically los angeles, we do not see that as a credible terrorist threat. we are investigating it as a hoax. reporter: while acknowledging a hoax was possible, l.a. police chief said the threat was specific and warned against being too critical. >> southern california has been through a lot in the recent weeks. should we risk putting the children through the same? horace: now overseas. turkey state run news agency says the syrian islamic state militants suspected of planning a suicide attack at

unified school district ramon cortines and it appears on early information, it was his call to shut down in the l.a. unified district. let's listen to the police chief in los angeles, charlie beck. >> our best advice on moving forward. we were able to do that. the sprpuperintendent made a decision and we support his decision, as does the mayor. i would say this to people that are critical. it is very easy in hindsight to criticize the decision based on results that the decider could never have known. its is also very easy to criticize a decision when you no responsibility for the outcome of that decision. the school district safeguards three quarters of a million lives every day. when they make a decision, they have to take into account the safety of the children of los angeles. i think it's irresponsible to, based on facts that have yet to be determined, to criticize that decision at this point. all of us make tough choices. all of us have the same goal in mind. we want to keep our kids safe. these are tough times. these communities, our communities, southern california, has been throug

cortines. >>> this is cnn breaking news. >>> hello, everyone, i'm ashleigh banfield and live in las vegas and we will get to the republican presidential debate and all of the news surrounding it, but first, this breaking news out of los angeles. the nation's second largest school district is completely shutdown, and all of that over an electronic threat. we are expecting an update from the district oinitial fficials and it is supposed to come within the next hour, but so far, this is what we have been able to compile so far about this threat. more than 900 schools, and 600,000 children are affected. the superintendent says that the threat referred to backpacks and other packages. and many school districts were threatened, though none by name. here is the foep message that went out to all parents this morning that inform ed them of this closure. >> this is the superintendent who has directed all schools to be closed today, tuesday, december 15th, to ensure the safety of all students. further information will be forth coming via additional blackboard connect messages. again, please be advis

god forbid the schools weren't shut down and a bad thing happened, cortines couldn't live with himself, better to err on the side of safety. liz: we have a lot of tuesday morning quarterbacking, as it were, and people say what an inconvenience for the parents. of course it is. wouldn't you rather err on the side of caution? the question is when the new york police chief comes on and says we've got the same threat and allah was spelled with a lower case a, now we have massive disruption in a school district and message to bad people around the world. i've got this power, shut the operations down. terrorism is very much a reality, is it not? >> you know, i tell people that al qaeda believes it's at war with the united states. isis believes it's at war with the united states. so we at least have to acknowledge we live in a very dangerous world. we have to go on with our lives but have to realize that there are people, as we speak, plotting to do us harm, and we have to be vigilant and smart. liz: what do you think happens, god forbid the next time there is this situation? do you think the

cortines. >>> this is cnn breaking news. >>> hello, everyone, i'm ashleigh banfield and live in las vegas republican presidential debate and all of the news surrounding it, but first, this breaking news out of los angeles. the nation's second largest school district is completely shutdown, and all of that over an electronic threat. we are expecting an update from the district oinitial fficials and it is supposed to come within the next hour, but so far, this is what we have been able to compile so far about this threat. more than 900 schools, and 600,000 children are affected. the superintendent says that the threat referred to backpacks and other packages. and many school districts were

superintendent ramone cortines says the l.a. unified school district gets many threats a year but this was particularly credible. it talked about backpacks, packages and explosives and mentioned not one but several schools. he was very concerned because of the recent san bernardino attacks although very early on authorities knew there was no connection to san bernardino. those who have read the e-mails say the threat was made by a self-described muslim extremist who misspelled allah, used a pornographic reference and made highly unrealistic claims. though law enforcement strongly disagreed with closing the schools, during the news conference there was a unified front. listen. >> some people, the superintendent in this case, had to make a decision that effects everybody andt this city's children and another 100,000 of his own employees and i think it's irresponsible to criticize a decision-maker when may make a decision based on totality of information and following their heart and belief. >> campus police are in the process of c

cortines said for some reason yes. >> what's interesting, though, as you point out that the responseously very different, l.a. shut down, 640,000 some students not going to school this morning, new york and the commissioner there had a very different response. what do you make of this, almost it's like this tale of two different cities, very different responses. >> new york had the appropriate response. you do not under any circumstance take action unless the threat is corroborated. for example, if a high-rise office building gets a bomb threat in new york city, the police department is not going to come over and evacuate your building act some credible information. they discover a package, there's a threat with an enormous degree of specificity. what he did was a big mistake. >> he would obviously totally disagree with you, though, david. he has 640,000 kids he has as his priority. he would vehemently disagree with what you're saying about l.a. >> i understand. but taking action based upon an uncorroborated threat. so if next week he gets another threat, is school going to close dow

that requires a judgment call that i'm sure ray cortines did not take easily. >> personnel from 13 law including chp and lapd are now going through every single school building the make sure they're clear and they're hoping to have that done by the end of the day. what happens next? will they be able to resume classes tomorrow do you suspect? how do the teachers then talk to the kids? >> so, how the teachers talk to the kids is probably single most important thing. if the teacher says everything is going to be fine, that's not credible. and kids will sense it. they'll smell it. what you have to do is talk very factually. on an age appropriate basis. but what you have to say is, here are the facts. we have looked at every school building. we have checked it out. we are using the best information we have. not, everything's going to be fine. because you don't know that and the kids know that you don't know this. >> should parents in other cities like myself even be telling our children about this? >> i mean, in part it depends. you don't want the kids to learn about it elsewhere. so it's