News Wrap: At least 17 dead as Pacific storms batter California

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• Amna Nawaz:

  Welcome to the "NewsHour."

  Nature is still throwing everything it has at California tonight, more than a foot of rain, four to five feet of snow, severe floods and mudslides. Pacific storms have battered the state for 10 days now, claiming at least 17 lives.

• Geoff Bennett:

  The storms have left untold property damage, and left many thousands of customers with no power.

  Stephanie Sy reports on the ongoing ordeal.

• Stephanie Sy:

  Scenes of destruction are unfolding across many parts of California.

  A tree sliding down a hillside and onto a highway in the Santa Cruz Mountains, a man paddling through flooded streets in Santa Barbara County, and homes crushed by trees in Sacramento. Residents, like Camilla Shaffer in the mountain town of Felton, said the water rose rapidly.

• Camilla Shaffer, Felton Resident:

  It was rising about two feet per hour. We experienced this on New Year's Eve, so we kind of had our markers for sort of 22 feet. It kept on rising, and it did get quite scary.

• Stephanie Sy:

  The entire town of Montecito, a wealthy enclave in Santa Barbara County, was forced to evacuate or shelter in place. Earlier yesterday, officials raised concerns about the increasing potential for a major mudslide.

• Kevin Taylor, Montecito Fire Protection District:

  The community is at risk from a second debris flow from the Thomas Fire burn scar. We're taking this risk so seriously that we have more than 200 responders, rescuers pre-positioned in our community ready for that event.

• Stephanie Sy:

  The Thomas Fire left a massive burn scar that led to a deadly mudslide almost exactly five years ago, a tragedy on many residents' minds this week, including celebrity Ellen DeGeneres.

  Ellen DeGeneres, Host, "The Ellen DeGeneres Show": This is crazy, on the five-year anniversary, that we're having unprecedented rain.

• Stephanie Sy:

  Some miles down the coast, more evacuations were ordered in Ventura County, where rescuers aided a trapped homeless community out of the dangerous waters with ladders and helicopters.

  Not everyone could be saved. In San Luis Obispo County, the floodwaters were so powerful, rescuers had to call off the search for a 5-year-old boy swept away from his mother.

  For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Stephanie Sy.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Yet another storm arrives tomorrow with forecasts of heavy new downpours.

• Amna Nawaz:

  President Biden and the leaders of Mexico and Canada held wide-ranging talks in Mexico City today on trade, migration, climate change, and more.

  They pledged to build prosperity across the hemisphere even as they face divisions over how to regulate the flow of migrants. The atmosphere appeared less tense than last night, when Mexico's president complained that the U.S. abandoned Latin America.

  In Brazil today, police questioned hundreds of people detained after rioters stormed the capital complex in Brasilia on Sunday. In all, some 1,500 were in custody. Late Monday, pro-democracy protesters rallied in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, waving flags and demanding no amnesty for the rioters.

• Bety Amin, Pro-Democracy Demonstrator (through translator):

  These people have to be punished. The bosses have to be punished. Those who are giving money have to be punished. Brazil is much bigger than what they showed there. Those people do not represent Brazil. We represent Brazil.

• Amna Nawaz:

  The rioters supported defeated President Jair Bolsonaro, and demanded the ouster of the new government.

  Russian forces are intensifying attacks in Eastern Ukraine, escalating already savage fighting. Reports today indicated Russians have captured most of the town of Soledar, trying to cut off the key city of Bakhmut in Donetsk province. Ukrainian officials said artillery, mortars, and rocket fire have laid waste to the area. They said the Russian strategy is to reduce whole cities to rubble.

  The World Health Organization today urged countries to recommend that passengers resume wearing masks on long-distance flights. That came as a new subvariant of COVID-19 is spreading. In the U.S., it's now accounting for more than a quarter of new cases. The WHO also recommends a return to pre-flight testing.

  Meanwhile, two Democrats in the House of Representatives here in the U.S. filed an ethics complaint against freshman Republican George Santos of New York. He's acknowledged lying about his background and education. The complaint raises questions about his finances. Congressmen Daniel Goldman and Ritchie Torres pressed GOP leaders to back an investigation.

• Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY):

  We haven't seen a single movement on the part of Republican leadership. They have not commented on this publicly. They have not condemned George Santos and all of his lies.

• Amna Nawaz:

  The number two House Republican, Steve Scalise, said GOP leaders are handling the matter internally. He gave no specifics.

  The Trump Organization's former chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, was sentenced today to five months in jail. He pleaded guilty to tax fraud in New York, and was ordered to pay nearly $2 million in taxes and penalties. Weisselberg has testified that Mr. Trump knew nothing about his scheme to dodge taxes on executive perks.

  And, on Wall Street, stocks advanced ahead of a government report this week on December inflation. Major indices were up on-half to 1 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 186 points to close at 33704. The Nasdaq rose 107 points. The S&P 500 added 27.

  Still to come on the "NewsHour": what we know about the potentially classified documents found at President Biden's former office; advances in artificial intelligence raise new ethics concerns; folk and electronica singer Beth Orton on creating what is considered to be her best work yet; and much more.