Canes For Veterans; Stellar Year For Stocks; Texas Veteran Turns Christmas Tree Into Canes; 24 States To Raise Minimum Wage In 2020; 60-Year-Old Man Beaten And Robbed Of $1 Dies; Woman Survives 200 Foot Fall From Cliff In California; Elon Musk, Vegas Tunnel Fully Operational In 2020.
SANTIAGO: Investigators in the murder case of a college student Tessa Majors are hoping to link DNA detected on her clothes to all three of the minors suspected in her attack. That's what an official with knowledge of the investigation tells The New York Times. Now this comes after detectives detained and released the third suspect wanted for questioning last night. Sources say that the 14-year-old could still face some charges.</s>ROMANS: A 60-year-old man who was critically injured after being punched and kicked during a mugging on Christmas Eve has died. Police released the surveillance video of Juan Fresnada and his friend being beaten and robbed. I want to warn you this -- this video is pretty graphic. The thieves got away with just one dollar. Police are asking for help locating the attackers. None of them have been identified. And there had been no arrests.</s>SANTIAGO: A woman fell 200 feet off of a cliff in southern California and somehow, she survived. Police say, she was walking along a foot path in Rancho Pales Verdes, Friday. They say, people started calling that morning to report a woman was screaming and it's still unclear how she fell or how much time passed before someone heard cries for help. Deputies pull a helicopter to the shoreline and they managed to rescue her. She suffered minor injuries and was taken to a hospital.</s>ROMANS: Seattle public schools will be sending students home if they have not been vaccinated by January 8th. The district says more than 2,000 students don't have up-to-date proof of vaccination. And any absences by unvaccinated students will be recorded as unexcused. The system is offering free immunization clinics today and Friday. Washington State lawmakers recently ended exceptions for families with personal or philosophical objections to vaccinations.</s>SANTIAGO: A Texas man is turning hundreds of Christmas trees into canes for fellow disabled veterans. Jamie Lewis is his name and he started a Central Texas branch of the group Canes for Veterans in 2016. He says, it keeps him from sitting home all day and feeling sorry for himself.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The whole process, it's just done off donations. I make the canes myself. Everything is done out of pocket.</s>SANTIAGO: Willis has made and shipped about 200 canes so far. And he's asking the community for donations of Christmas trees stripped of their limbs. He says he also needs sandpaper and woodworking tools.</s>ROMANS: All right. Let's get a check of CNN business this morning. Taking a look at markets around the world to start this holiday week. You can see pretty much a mixed performance. European shares have opened slightly lower here. Japan's benchmark index has closed the year as one of the region's best performers. Easing U.S./China trade tensions have helped lift sentiment. On Wall Street futures are looking a little bit higher, barely so. Stocks are ending the year strong. The DOW closed up 24 points, Friday. That's a record high. The S&P 500 just barely ended in positive territory. Enough for it to reach a record. The NASDAQ finished lower, snapping an 11-day winning streak. New Year, higher wages. A record 72 jurisdictions, that's 24 states, 48 cities and counties, will raise their minimum wages in 2020. Most will kick-in about January 1st. New York's pay raise is set to begin December 31st. The federal minimum has been stuck at $7.25 an hour since 2009. Earlier this year, the House passed the raise the wage act, to make a $15 minimum wage, a national standard. But that bill didn't make it past the Senate. What started as a joke looks like it's becoming a reality. Elon Musk says Las Vegas is hopefully getting a fully operational underground tunnel in 2020. Musk tweeted the Boring Company is completing the tunnel from Las Vegas Convention Center to the strip before it works on other projects. When completed, the Las Vegas project will consist of two tunnels, each about a mile long. The Boring Company did not respond to our request for comment. But Elon Musk and his big ideas. He says that one will happen next year.</s>SANTIAGO: Well, thanks to our international viewers for joining us. Have a great rest of your day. And for our U.S. viewers, Early Start continues right now. Horrific attacks on people of faith. Two people shot to death at a Texas church. Jews targeted against stabbed at a Hanukkah Party. Larger massacres were nearly averted in both cases.</s>ROMANS: A civil rights icon faces the battle of a lifetime. Congressman John Lewis has pancreatic cancer. END