Can’t get geared up to plan Thanksgiving dinner? Here are 10 places to just sit back and be served (if you can get a reservation). And here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door. (You can also get “5 Things You Need to Know Today” delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.)
1. California wildfires
The numbers just keep shooting up. The death toll from Northern California’s Camp Fire is now at 63, after the remains of seven people were found. But the real eye-popping stat is the number of people listed as missing. That soared to 631after investigators added information from callers who reported people missing to the dispatch center the day the fire erupted. There do appear to be duplicates on the list, and some people who evacuated may have unreliable cell phone service due to the fire. Meanwhile, some survivors say they never got emergency alerts on their phones that could have warned them of the fire.
2. Cambodia
Two senior members of one of the most murderous regimes in history had their day of reckoning. Nuon Chea, 92, and Khieu Samphan, 87, were found guilty of genocide by an international tribunal, a landmark verdict that may bring closure to millions of Cambodians. The pair are the senior surviving members of theKhmer Rouge, the tyrannical communist faction that killed more than 1.7 million people — about a fifth of Cambodia’s population — during the 1970s. Both men were sentenced to life in prison.
3. North Korea
North Korea has tested some kind of weapon, and the world is trying to figure out just what it is. The North’s state media said it was a “newly developed ultramodern” weapon. Whatever it is, it’s a sign North Korea is ready to go back to a more antagonistic relationship with the US if nuclear disarmament talks continue to go poorly. The weapon could have been a piece of long-range artillery like “a multiple rocket launcher,” a South Korean government source told CNN. Meantime, Vice President Mike Pence said the US has dropped a key demand of the North, which will not have to provide a full list of its nuclear and missile sites before President Trump meets early next year with its leader.
4. Florida recount
Florida’s putting the machines away and will start recounting ballots by hand in its hotly contested US Senate race. The manual recount is needed because after the machine recount, Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson was within the 0.25% margin required for a hand recount in his race against Republican Gov. Rick Scott. Still, it looks like Nelson’s odds of winning look pretty slim. That’s because Scott picked up a few dozen more votes during the first recount. Meanwhile, the governor’s race looks like it may be done. After a machine recount, that race is still outside the margin required for a hand recount, so it’s likely former GOP Rep. Ron DeSantis will be the state’s next chief exec.
5. Weather
Eight people are dead and nearly 300,000 are without power as a wicked winter storm plows through the eastern US. The icy weather contributed to traffic crashes that left eight people dead in several states and stranded drivers for hours on Manhattan’s George Washington Bridge. Today, more snow, sleet and freezing rain hit from the Central Appalachians through the Northeast. Parts of Pennsylvania and New England could see up to a foot of snow.
BREAKFAST BROWSE
RIP, Roy
Before hosting “Hee Haw,” Roy Clark wasa music star in his own right, one of the first to land singles on both country and pop charts. He was 85.
Underpriced no more
Guess you don’t have to die to rake in the big bucks as a painter. A David Hockney painting sold for $90 million, a record for a living artist.
Power plays
She won $350 million last month playing Powerball. Now, she’s paying it forward with a half-million-dollar donation to a veterans group.
Banding together
What did Kanye West and Mark Zuckerberg sing when they jammed together at a karaoke bar? Well, here’s a hint: Think of ’90s boy bands.
HAPPENING LATER
From the bench
After a delay, the judge in the CNN v. President Trump lawsuit now says he’ll announce his ruling this morning in the First Amendment case.
TOTAL RECALL
Quiz time
The 2018 Oxford Dictionary Word of the Year is …
A. Youthquake
B. Bougie
C. Toxic
D. Democracy
Play “Total Recall: The CNN news quiz” to see if you’re right. And don’t forget, you can also find a version of the quiz on your Amazon devices! Just say, “Alexa, ask CNN for a quiz.”
TODAY’S NUMBER
80%
That’s how much vaping has increased since last year among high school kids. And it’s up 50% among middle schoolers. Now, the FDA wants new regulations on flavored nicotine products that have fueled vaping’s rise.
IT’S THE WEEKEND, BABY
Two new Netflix shows come out today. Michael Douglas ages grudgingly in “The Kominsky Method,” while “Narcos: Mexico” moves the drug-war drama to an new locale. In theaters, Potter-mania continues with “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” and Viola Davis heads up a group of fierce “Widows.”
AND FINALLY
Slow down
You’d think the Slow Mo Guys would run out of stuff to film, but they always prove us wrong. This time, they capture rainbow-colored Jell-O getting sliced by a tennis racket, in super … slow … motion. (Click to view.)
