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The NewsWorthy
Holiday Travel Delays, FBI Investigates Dems & Macy's Parade Updates - Wednesday, November 26, 2025
00:14:08
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Today is Wednesday, November 26th. We'll tell you how the holiday travel rush is going so far and why the FBI is looking to interview a group of Democrats. Also, the next step for a Ukrainian peace plan as drawn up by the U.S. plus, where to go if the turkey burns this Thanksgiving, when holiday sales are expected to bring the best discounts. And what to know about the floats, balloons and performances at this year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Those stories and even more news coming up. Welcome. Welcome to the Newsworthy. All the day's news in about 10 minutes. Fast, fair, fun and on the go. I'm Lacey Evans filling in for Erica Mandy today. Thanks so much for being here. You ready? Let's do this. Thanksgiving travel is now in full swing, with plenty of crowded airports and congested roads. The FAA expects this holiday travel period to be the busiest for flyers in 15 years. But even more Americans are expected to drive, especially since gas prices stand close to their lowest level four years. On top of the traffic, travelers are up against winter weather in a lot of places. Just yesterday, heavy rain temporarily shut down air traffic control operations in Atlanta, and hundreds of flights were delayed, mostly in Atlanta and Chicago. Starting tonight, there's heavy snowfall in the forecast for parts of Michigan, Ohio and Buffalo, New York. Then an even broader winter storm is expected to take shape Friday in the Rockies and across the Midwest. On Saturday, a doctor who's been critical of vaccines has just become the CDC's second in command. Dr. Ralph Abraham used to be Louisiana's surgeon general. In that role, he ordered the state health department to stop promoting vaccinations, saying conversations about whether a shot is right for a specific person is best had with just that person and their doctor. During the pandemic, Abraham criticized public health policies and specifically called COVID 19 shots dangerous. He also promoted medical treatments that have since been widely regarded as ineffective for COVID 19, like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine. And now he will be the CDC's highest ranked official with a medical degree. The agency doesn't have a permanent director, and the acting director is a former biotech executive. All this comes as a growing group of state leaders, professional medical societies and doctors have questioned whether the nation's public health agency is trustworthy anymore, though some officials say they didn't trust the CDC before, and the Trump administration insists it's now only following gold standard science. So far, no comment from Dr. Abraham about his new post. The FBI is reportedly investigating six Democratic members of Congress. They're the same six Dems, all from military backgrounds who appeared in a video saying no service member should act illegally or in violation of the Constitution. Remember, President Trump already accused them of sedition. That's, quote, punishable by death for the video. But the Dems say President Trump is using the FBI as a tool to intimidate them. That won't work either way. The FBI is reportedly working to schedule interviews with them now. Meanwhile, the Pentagon says it's investigating one of them specifically for his role in the video. We're talking about Senator Mark Kelly, who is a retired Navy captain since he's the only one who is legally still under the jurisdiction of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Secretary of Defense, AKA Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, threatened to recall Kelly to active military duty to face a court martial. To be continued. The peace plan we told you about earlier this week to end the war in Ukraine has apparently been fine tuned. That was the update from President Trump yesterday. And now Trump says he's sending his special envoy, Steve Witkoff to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin while the US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll meets with Ukrainian officials. Trump says he could eventually meet with the Russian and Ukrainian presidents himself, but not until more progress has been made in the negotiations. Remember, earlier this week he was giving Ukraine a deadline, saying it needed to accept the peace proposal by Thanksgiving or keep fighting without American aid. Now Trump says more meetings will be happening next week. Meanwhile, Russia is still launching attacks on Ukraine's capital, while Ukraine has attacked southern Russia. And European leaders are warning the road to real peace will be long. Stay tuned. Four more suspects have been arrested for last month's big jewel heist at the Louvre in Paris. And French media report one of them was directly involved. That means police believe they've caught all four men who disguise themselves as construction workers to steal artifacts dating to the Napoleonic era, as well as many accomplices. But at this point, investigators still haven't been able to recover any of the looted treasures. They're still scouring the black market, hoping to track them down. Meanwhile, security measures have been tightened around the Louvre and other French cultural institutions. More news is still coming up. But first, here's your main host, Erica Mandy, to tell you about our sponsor, Honeylove.
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Around the holidays, it feels like every day calls for a different outfit. Work events, family dinners, travel parties. And what I've learned is that the right foundation makes all the difference. That's why I reach for Honeylove. I first tried their shapewear before a special event, honestly expecting it to feel tight or restrictive, so but I was pleasantly surprised. It was comfortable, supportive and stayed put all night. So no rolling down, no tugging, no I can't wait to get home and change moment. Now it's the piece I trust most for anything dressy and as we head into the holiday season, Honey Love has become my go to for feeling confident in whatever I'm wearing. Their other essentials are great too. Whether you're dressing up or just wearing a cozy sweater, treat yourself or someone you love to Honey Love this holiday season and right now you can save 20%@HoneyLove.com Newsworthy just use our exclusive link HoneyLove.com Newsworthy to grab your discount. After you order, they'll ask where you heard about Honey Love, so please support our show and let them know we sent you. Celebrate the season feeling confident and comfortable with Honey Love.
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Now back to the news. Tomorrow is a federal holiday, so that means banks and post offices will be closed. You'll also want to make sure to get any last minute ingredients for your Thanksgiving feast. Now, since tomorrow stores like Walmart, Target, Costco and Trader Joe's will be closed. It's not just grocery stores either. Best Buy, Home Depot, Macy's, Kohl's, ikea and many more are shutting down for the holiday. So where can you go if you need something in a pinch on Turkey day? Kroger, Whole Foods, cvs, Walgreens and Dollar General are among the stores that will be open, though most will have limited hours. There are also some places to go if you don't feel like cooking this Thanksgiving dinner, or if the cooking goes terribly wrong. Cracker barrel, Denny's, McDonald's, Starbucks and more will all have at least some locations open, of course, after Thanksgiving. Black Friday is still expected to be busy. Target, Walmart and Best Buy, Home Depot, Lowe's are all opening at 6am Kohl's, JCPenney and Old Navy are among those opening Even earlier at 5am the crowds aren't expected to be as massive as they once were, since sales have been starting earlier than ever. Black Friday isn't quite the frenzy it used to be. Now that sales are starting earlier than ever, but it still looks like the biggest deals are ahead of us. Adobe analytics expects the best sales from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday. It forecasts discounts of up to 28% off the list price with some of the best prices on electronics and toys, and an unprecedented number of people are expected to take advantage of the sales. The National Retail Federation says a record 187 million Americans plan to shop at some point this Thanksgiving weekend. On the other hand, others are purposely choosing not to spend any money as a way to protest the Trump administration's policies, since critics say they're widening the gap between the richest and poorest Americans. There's a coalition of grassroots groups holding a shopping blackout starting today and ending the day after Cyber Monday next week. They encourage people to stop all in store and online shopping, but they say if you must spend, do it at a small local business and pay in cash. It's not clear how much of an impact it will make on big companies bottom lines since spending is still expected to top a trillion dollars this holiday season. This Friday is Native American Heritage Day. The holiday is meant to encourage all Americans to honor the rich culture, tradition and history of Native Americans. That said, some Native Americans say the holiday takes a backseat to Thanksgiving and competes with Black Friday. But others call it a good first step and encourage people to observe the holiday, hoping it becomes more widely recognized. Ever since the social media platform X rolled out a new feature over the weekend since several popular political accounts have been called into question. The feature lets users see where an account is based, and it turns out many of the ones constantly posting about American politics to hundreds of thousands of followers are based outside of the U.S. researchers at news Guard identified several popular accounts that said they were run by Americans but were actually posting from Eastern Europe, Asia or Africa, and many of those accounts were circulating misleading and polarizing claims. Granted, X, adding this feature probably won't mean the end of foreign influence altogether. More accounts are expected to start using virtual private networks, aka VPNs, to mask their true location or find other ways to adapt. It's also worth noting, even though X says the new feature is 99.9% accurate, security experts, social media researchers and former X employees said the location information could be unreliable or easily spoofed. It turns out President Trump's influence may extend into the movie business. This week, Trump posted about his love for the Rush Hour franchise, saying, quote, we need more movies like this. And then yesterday, Paramount Pictures agreed to release a Rush Hour 4 with the original stars of the series, Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, reprising their roles as detectives Lee and Carter. The project is also expected to include director Brett Ratner, who has previous ties to Rush Hour and also recently wrapped up a documentary about first lady Melania Trump. At this point, Rush Hour 4 is still in the early stages of production, so details about the plot and release date are still up in the air. All the preps are underway for the 99th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. As always, it will march down the streets of Manhattan and into the television screens of millions of people. People will see the classics like the Tom Turkey Float and Snoopy Balloon. And there are seven new floats including a Labubu themed one and a Stranger Things one. Plus there are five new balloons like Buzz Light and Pac Man. And several big stars are performing like Cynthia Erivo, Lainey Wilson, Conan Gray, Sierra Jewel and the singing trio behind K Pop Demon Hunters, just to name a few. Of course there will also be the Radio City Rockettes and other dancers as well as a brigade of marching bands. It all starts at 8:30 in the morning on NBC. And that's it for the main news today. But it's now time for Work Wednesday when we break down one interesting career or work related news story every Wednesday. But first, Erica is back to tell you about our sponsor, Fatty 15.
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- [12:37]
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Now back to Work Wednesday. It seems this year a lot more workplaces are choosing to bring back the office holiday party. EasyCater did a survey and found companies are moving past last year's cost cutting mindset and instead they're looking to embrace the in person team bonding and camaraderie a holiday party can bring and workers seem to be looking forward to it. The survey found 82% of full time employees plan to attend their company's party, though many say they'll decide depending on what kind of food or drinks are served. And they might not be disappointed since almost all the office decision makers reported they're spending more on the holidays than last year, with parties being a big part of that. There is one thing that could dull enthusiasm, though, and that's having it at an inconvenient time. The survey also found employees would much prefer a casual celebration during work hours. Other research also shows many workers would actually prefer a bonus or more family time instead. But no matter what, many people agree any kind of gesture is appreciated around the holidays. Thank you so much for listening today and sharing the show. A quick note that we will not have a new episode out tomorrow or Friday because of the Thanksgiving holiday, but Erica will be back on Saturday with our special edition episode in which she talks to a filmmaker who spent years asking people, are you happy? And then another news roundup will be here for you on Monday. Until then, have a great day.