9 AM: Crowds for Navalny, CA 12 feet of snow, Gaza investigation reax & more – CNN 5 Things

From CNN, I’m Faiz Jamil with the 5 things you need to know for Friday, March 1st.

“Navalny! Navalny! Navalny! Navalny!….”

That’s the sound of crowds of people who showed up outside a Moscow church today as Alexi Navalny’s body was brought in for his funeral. It wasn’t clear how many people would show up because of fears of harassment and even arrest from authorities. That’s because just as the Kremlin tried to silence the opposition figure during his life, Navalny’s team says it’s continued after his death. They say it’s been difficult to find a venue for the service, or even to hire a hearse, and a live stream of the funeral suddenly stopped working before the service began. After the funeral, CNN’s Matthew Chance spoke to some Russians on why they came out despite the risks.

So it’s symbolic value for people who don’t agree with everything that’s happened in Russia. You know, it’s risky for you to be here. Yeah, it’s certainly a risk to take, you see, because I believe that’s to show solidarity.

As dry and windy conditions in Texas are expected to fuel deadly wildfires. A powerful winter storm is hitting California this weekend. I asked CNN’s Derek Van Dam for the forecast.

Yeah, for us, this will be a punishing blizzard for the mountainous terrain of California, making it virtually impossible to travel in the higher elevations, where up to 12 feet of snow is possible and some of the highest mountain peaks. Not only will winds gust over 100mph, but visibility will drop down to zero, making it extremely disorienting for travelers.

Now in Texas and Oklahoma, the Smokehouse Creek Fire has burned more than a million acres, is only 3% contained in Texas, and only 40% contained in Oklahoma. People living in Texas Panhandle have had to leave their homes to burn.

The European Union has responded to a CNN investigation detailing how indiscriminate Israeli fire killed half a family in Gaza, a deadly January attack. It says, quote, “We expect Israel to investigate every unsettling report about unjustified and indiscriminate targeting of civilians.” CNN found that several members of one family were killed by the shockwave of what was likely a 2,000 pound bomb dropped by the Israeli military. Survivors say they were not warned in advance of the attack. The Israeli military told CNN it was responding to fire by militants, and that it had told civilians to begin evacuating days ahead of the incident, although it couldn’t provide any evidence of that warning. For more on this, listen to today’s episode of Tug of War with the journalists behind the investigation.

We still didn’t know exactly what had happened there. We didn’t even know for certain that the other people in that rubble were his family, even though her ID was there. And so we thought, okay, let’s let’s now start digging and see what else we can find here.

Tug of War is available wherever you get your podcasts.

A high profile case could have sweeping consequences for press freedom and the First Amendment. Yesterday, a federal judge held veteran journalist Catherine Herridge in contempt of court for refusing to divulge her sources for a series of stories published back in 2017 while she was at Fox News. The decision has drawn criticism from First Amendment advocates and press freedom groups here. Herridge’s lawyer tells CNN she plans to appeal the decision.

A brand of mouthwash is being recalled over poisoning concerns. That’s next.

A brand of mouthwash is being recalled across the country because it’s a potential poisoning risk for children. Heritage store hydrogen peroxide mouthwash is being recalled because of its lack of childproof packaging that’s required for products with a certain concentration of ethanol. Heritage store hydrogen peroxide mouthwash is being recalled because of its lack of childproof packaging that’s required for products with a certain concentration of ethanol. Symptoms of ethanol poisoning to watch out for include vomiting, nausea, slow breathing, and drowsiness, among other things.

That’s all for now. Our next episode drops at noon eastern.