HARVARD PRESIDENT FACES PLAGIARISM PROBE

Good evening, everyone. Welcome to NTD Tonight. I'm David Zhang. Here is a preview of some of today's top stories. Harvard's embattled President Claudine Gay faces new congressional probes, this time for alleged plagiarism in her published works. Rudy Giuliani filed for bankruptcy today. This comes just days after a federal court ordered him to pay $148 million to two former Georgia election workers. The busiest travel season is here. We'll hear from some travelers as they prepare to head out for the holidays. New allegations of plagiarism. Harvard's embattled President Claudine Gay faces a fresh round of claims that she failed to credit other academics in her published works. As the Ivy League University refuses to remove her and a House committee extends its probe of alleged plagiarism. NTD's Arlene Richards has the latest on the developing story. Harvard's top governing body is facing more problems. It announced two more instances of inadequate citations in works published by Harvard President Claudine Gay. Gay's publications had been questioned earlier this month. The issues this time were found in Gay's 1997 doctoral dissertation. Harvard said the examples included duplicative language without appropriate attribution. The findings come in the midst of a request by Representative Virginia Fox that Harvard release internal materials. Fox, chairwoman of the House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce, launched an investigation after receiving testimony about rampant antisemitism on university campuses. On Wednesday, Fox expanded the investigation to include Gay's alleged plagiarism. In a letter to Harvard, Fox hinted that federal funding could be withheld if the university failed to adhere to appropriate standards. The board didn't fire Gay after initial claims of plagiarism. Those findings include Gay's alleged use of work by Carol Swain. Swain, a black academic who studies issues of race in America, told American thought leaders Gay was dishonest. But I do care that the academy, the progressives, the elites, that they advanced her and I don't know that they held her to the same standard. And I think that it was dishonest for her not to have given more credit to where she got her ideas from, which would have been my book, Black Faces, Black Interests. Harvard has said that it still has no plans to remove Gay from her position. The board said Wednesday that Gay would update her dissertation and that there was no violation of Harvard standards for research misconduct. The Harvard Policy on Research Misconduct states that there must be a significant departure from accepted practices. The misconduct must have been committed intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly, and the allegation must be proven by preponderance of the evidence. On the other hand, Harvard's Guide on Sourcing says this on plagiarism. In academic writing, it is considered plagiarism to draw any idea or any language from someone else without adequately crediting that source in your paper. The university's own students have called the board's response a double standard. Arlene Richards, NTD News. Now let's take a look at other national headlines. A gunman in the Czech Republic killed at least 15 people and wounded at least 24 others today. Police responded to the shooting at Charles University's Faculty of Arts building in Jan Polak Square shortly after 3 p.m. local time. I went through the crowd, not realizing what actually is really going on, because as probably a lot of people, I wasn't just ready to admit that something like that could happen in Prague. Police stated that the father of the shooter, a student at the faculty, was found dead. Police sealed off the square and the area adjacent to the building, located in a busy part of town that has a popular street leading tourists to Old Town Square. Gun crime is relatively rare in the Czech Republic. More presidential candidates are now responding to an unprecedented court ruling in Colorado. Justices there decided that former President Trump can't be on the state ballot for the 2024 presidential election. They cited the 14th Amendment and alleged involvement in an insurrection. Republican candidate Nikki Haley criticized the ruling while on Fox News. And the idea that we would go and say, just because these liberal justices don't like him, they want to take him off the ballot, that's not a democracy. That's not who we are. That's not what we need to do. I think the Supreme Court, the U.S. Supreme Court, should overturn the decision and return the decision to the voters. I think it's the wrong move to remove him from the ballot for those reasons, because he hasn't been convicted of insurrection, hasn't been charged with it. Former Attorney General Bill Barr called the ruling a hyper-aggressive position. He told CNN the court is stretching the law and that its actions are counterproductive. I strongly oppose Donald Trump for the Republican nomination, but I think that this case is legally wrong and untenable. They're counterproductive. They backfire. As you know, he feeds on grievance, just like a fire feeds on oxygen. And this is going to end up as a grievance that helps him. Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips also criticized the ruling. The congressman says he does believe Trump inspired an insurrection and that he did nothing to stop it. But Phillips makes it clear he thinks it's still wrong to ban Trump from the ballot without a conviction. And that the Supreme Court should intervene. Rudy Giuliani filed for bankruptcy today, just days after he was ordered by a federal court to pay $148 million to two former Georgia election workers. Giuliani was known as America's mayor for his leadership of New York after the 9-11 attacks. He is now facing a crush of debts stemming from his work to represent former President Trump and his involvement in the 2020 presidential election. He also faces criminal charges in Georgia. In a filing in U.S. bankruptcy court in New York, Giuliani said he had between $100 million and $500 million in liabilities, but only $1 to $10 million in assets. Aside from former election workers, Giuliani also listed President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden and Smartmatic USA as creditors. Hunter Biden in September sued Giuliani for violating his privacy over data allegedly taken from his laptop. Smartmatic has sued the former New York mayor and other Trump allies for claiming the company's voting machines flipped votes from Trump to Biden. Giuliani also said he owed nearly $1 million to the U.S. and New York state governments and nearly $2 million in legal fees. Giuliani has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges of election subversion in Georgia, along with Trump and more than a dozen other co-defendants. In the Israel-Hamas war, the 15-member U.N. Security Council continues their week-long negotiations over a draft resolution calling for an urgent suspension of the conflict. Penned by the United Arab Emirates, the resolution hopes to allow more aid to be delivered into the Gaza Strip. U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said that around 200 trucks carrying humanitarian aid have entered the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours. On the ground, Israel says it has destroyed a tunnel system used by top Hamas officials. Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner described the tunnel system as a quote, a center of power for Hamas military and political wings. Yesterday, Israeli officials said they are considering another round of negotiations with the Hamas terrorists to release hostages. But as of Thursday, no talks have taken place. With the holidays around the corner, get ready for a surge in travel activities nationwide. Airports, train stations, and highways will be bustling with the festive journeys. NTD's Christina Corona has more from Ontario International Airport. According to the Aviation Federal Administration, airports across the country are expected to be the busiest they have ever been during this Christmas and New Year's period. AAA projects that 115.2 million individuals will travel 50 miles or more from their residences during the 10-day year-end holiday travel period. TSA projects the busiest days of holiday travel at LAX and nationally to be December 21st and December 22nd, as well as December 28th and December 29th. This year's overall count of domestic travelers reflects a 2.2 percent rise compared to the previous year, marking the second-highest year-end travel forecast since 2000. The busiest Christmas and New Year's travel period on record remains 2019, boasting a total of 119 million travelers. However, almost 104 million motorists nationwide are anticipated to embark on holiday journeys by car, marking the second-highest record since 2019. This aligns with the decline in gas prices nationwide, easing some financial pressure for drivers. We asked several travelers their plans for the holiday season. I'm waiting for my two youngest daughters to come in from Oklahoma. Our plans is all family this year, so we're just going to spend family time together. We're heading to Sacramento and then eventually on the way to Reading to have Christmas with the family. Well, we usually have a nice big meal, get together, go see Christmas lights, just enjoy the day. We go to church. I'm excited because I grew up here. My dad lives here, so I came in today. We're going to spend Christmas together. We're going to have a Christmas brunch together, which we've always done at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills. Whether you're hitting the road or taking a flight, stay safe this holiday season and enjoy the festivities. Christina Corona, NTD News, Ontario. Well, take a short break now, everybody, but here's a look at what we have for you when we come back. A slow-moving storm drenches California just as holiday travels start. One area even saw a brief tornado. Tired of trash covering public spaces, one California student is taking matters into his own hands. A tree that chats and jokes with visitors? Well meet Archie the talking tree from Florida. Those stories and more coming up on NTD Tonight. Welcome back to NTD Tonight. I'm your host, David Zhang. A slow-moving Pacific storm brought heavy rain and storms throughout California. There were flood warnings and must lights throughout the state, and even a brief tornado. NTD's Aileen Ang has more. A Pacific storm pounded parts of Southern California on Thursday with heavy rain and street flooding, adding to hassles as holiday travel got underway. This comes after heavy rains drenched parts of Northern California on Wednesday. The Pacific storm centered offshore was gradually moving southeastward. It sent rain ashore and hit particularly hard on the central coast after sweeping through the San Francisco Bay area. Flood watches were posted all the way south to San Diego. The early morning downpours targeted coastal Ventura County just to the northwest of Los Angeles County, swamping areas in the cities of Oxnard and Port Hueneme. The city of Oxnard said in a social media post that many streets and intersections were heavily impacted. The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for Oxnard and the city of Ventura due to a high-intensity thunderstorm, but no tornado activity was immediately observed. But Northern California's Oroville had a brief tornado that was responsible for the damage to structures and trees. The stormy weather came as millions of Californians geared up for holiday travel and finished preparations for Christmas. The Automobile Club of Southern California predicts 9.5 million people in that region would travel during the year-end holiday period. The relative warmth of the storm meant that snowfall would be mostly limited to high elevations in southern Sierra Nevada and some Southern California ranges. The California Highway Patrol office in South Lake Tahoe said in a social media post that the storm nonetheless was, quote, making a mess, producing rain, sleet, snow and icy roads. California ski resorts need more significant snowfall as the season is off to a slow start. Ice Pass, a California-based company, combines ice baths and speed dating for a chilled approach to love. Let's dive into the story with NTD's Stephanie Sical. In a unique twist on traditional dating, Californians are abandoning the beach and bars to seek love in unconventional places, ice-cold baths. The Ice Breakers event near Los Angeles in Santa Monica features singles donning swimwear for speed dating in a freezing water pool. After a meditation and musical session, attendees pair up randomly and discuss prompts like what does love mean to you during a three-minute session in a tub set at a 37 Fahrenheit or 2.78 Celsius. At first it was hard to kind of like focus in on what the question was because you're focused on how cold you are, but then we kind of locked eyes and just kind of focused in on how we were both feeling and then it was easy. Despite the initial challenge, participants such as 25-year-old dancer Kaitlyn Moyer and 27-year-old engineer Miles Gibson find connection and support in this chilly experience. It was really cold. It was, like Kaitlyn said, it was hard to focus on actually speaking to each other and understanding what we were saying, but it was nice to have someone in there with me to kind of support me while I was sort of acclimating to the cold, but yeah, it was really cold. It was tough, yeah. The concept originated from Kyle Cassidy and Arian Daveny, co-founders of Ice Pass, a Venice Beach company specializing in ice bath plunges and saunas. We've gotten great response, we've gotten great feedback and the goal is to keep creating it so that at the end of the day people can connect much deeper and hopefully love can Although ice baths are commonly embraced by athletes for muscle recovery, Ice Pass brought a fresh twist by integrating speed dating into the chilly routine. Stephanie Sical, NTD News. Fed up with trash covering public spaces, one California college student is taking matters into his own hands, literally. Nearly every day he goes out to clean up trash on the streets for free. NTD's David Lam hears more from Edgar McGregor. 23-year-old Edgar McGregor has dedicated over 1,600 days to cleaning up debris in our planet's natural spaces, parks, canyons, open space preserves and beaches. Sometimes people come up to me and they'll ask me, why do you continue to do the trash pickups each and every day? And the reality is that each passing year, there's more and more reason not to do it. The Californian graduated with a bachelor's degree from San Jose State University this Monday, studying climate science. McGregor told NTD he felt like he wasn't doing enough. So I decided to push myself a little bit and every Saturday I started going out to my local park to clean up trash with a five-gallon bucket. It was surprisingly easy. All I needed was my bucket and a pair of gloves and my shoes and clothes on my back and that's about it. He says he's done six to seven-hour cleanups, but most of the cleanups are about an hour long, sometimes two or three minutes. There were times where I would get done with one class, have to rush to the park, clean up trash for 15 minutes, rush back to my next class. That was kind of stressful because an important part of my daily trash pickup mission is actually being outside in nature. McGregor's longest consecutive pickup was over 402 days in a row. The only times I don't clean up trash is days where I have multiple finals. I think one semester I had four finals in one day and I just had to miss that day. If there's a lot of wildfire smoke around, that can also prevent me from doing my cleanups because that's just unsafe. But for the most part, weather is not a problem. I'll go clean up trash in the pouring rain. I'll go clean up trash when it's 124 degrees Fahrenheit outside. His latest pickup time was 1115 at night on his 1,606th day. And even after graduating, McGregor says he's still trying to clean the planet. David Lam, Entity News, California. For sports, Aaron Rodgers, who had an injury earlier this year, is making progress in his development. Here's Tyler Castillo with his thoughts on the recovery. Tyler, what can you tell us about Aaron Rodgers from the New York Jets? Yeah, so the New York Jets announced that they activated Aaron Rodgers off the injured reserve. However, he's not playing just yet. This is just a team move so he can participate in the team practices. Sports injuries are very common in football. What's important in this case? Well, David, it's Aaron Rodgers, Super Bowl champion MVP from 2010. And he's also got a torn Achilles. Back then, when a player got a torn Achilles, that was most likely the end of their career. Now we progress so a torn Achilles is just end of the season. But we're seeing Aaron Rodgers come back within the same season he tore his Achilles. If the New York Jets made the playoffs, it would be no surprise if he was playing during the playoffs. That's unheard of in the sports world for a player to recover this quickly from a torn Achilles. All right, good to know that he made a speedy recovery. All right. Thank you so much, Tyler. To wrap up the night for the fifth year, Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden in Florida offers a unique night garden experience. After sunset, light installations transform the garden into a mesmerizing jungle world. At the center of it is a projection of Archie, a 137-year-old tree that engages visitors by chatting and sharing jokes. It's the biggest lesson of my life. I guess for me, it's being here at the night garden. And, you know, I've been around for a very long time. Archie the talking tree is kind of the main staple that we had now in year five. You can ask Archie all the questions you like. He has all the answers. He also has plenty of jokes to go around. Yeah, yeah. It's our first time here. So we just brought our children and they're having a really nice time, as you can see, especially they love the talking tree because they really believe it's talking to them. So it's great. That's all we've got for you tonight. We would like you to join us again on NTD Tonight every weekday at 9 p.m. I'm David Zhang. Have a wonderful evening.