this is the "cbs evening news." >> axelrod: good evening. i'm jim axelrod. and this is our western edition. the bodies of three more storm victims were found today in mississippi and alabama, the 16th, 17th, and 18th people killed this week by tornadoes that swept across the south. in alabama, where another twister touched down christmas night, nearly 200 roads are closed due to flooding, and the threat of extreme weather is not over yet; the south central u.s. faces everything from more tornadoes, to blizzard conditions; while parts of the midwest and northeast could finally get their first real taste of winter early next week. we begin tonight with mark strassmann in mississippi. >> yeah, you can't live like that, sweetheart. >> reporter: kenya williams is both heartbroken and thankful. her brick home since childhood has lost its roof and half its walls, but she has perspective. 10 mississippi residents were killed by the christmas week

six of them were her neighbors. >> my 72-year-old blind, disabled dad was in this house when the tornado hit. so for him to come out with just a bump and scratch on his head-- on his forehead, no broken bones, not severely hurt, didn't have to go into i.c.u., i'm good with that. >> reporter: in northern alabama, flash flooding was a threat all day. in some areas, people were warned to avoid driving. on christmas night, a twister struck birmingham, the state's biggest city. rattled residents described seeing white rain. >> pouring down, heavy rain, just boom, boom, heavy rain. and then all of a sudden, the glass in my windows just broke out. >> reporter: two homes in the state's capital were destroyed, others badly damaged, but no one was killed. since christmas eve, unseasonably warm weather across the south has fueled killer storms. thousands of victims in tennessee, arkansas, and georgia

up. >> that's not even part of my house. that came from my next door neighbor. >> reporter: what williams found, scattered and shredded everywhere, was a lifetime of memories. >> i mean, they'll live within me forever-- family times, the thanksgivings, the christmases; a lot of my friends from college used to come out here with me and everything. so, you know, that's the heartbreaking part of it. >> reporter: williams told me her family plans to rebuild right on this spot. jim, they lost their house, but this is home. >> axelrod: an important distinction in the face of such tragedy. mark strassmann, thank you. meteorologist jeff jamieson is with our cbs dallas station ktvt. jeff, who is in the danger zone now? >> well jim, a big severe threat across central texas right now. in fact, tornado watch for the rest of the evening, including the dallas-fort worth area. we've already had a few confirmed tornadoes in east texas, and the threat of severe weather really goes all the way

chicago, for the rest of this evening. the severe weather threat tomorrow will be basically in the same areas, maybe a little bit farther east in louisiana, arkansas, and mississippi. on the backside of the storm, it's all about snow. a lot of snow in new mexico and far west texas right now. blizzard warnings in effect for the texas panhandle. this could be an historic storm for them, as we're talking about 12-18 inches of snow on the ground by tomorrow night. a lot of that, blowing snow with up to five to six-foot drifts, and winds around 60 miles per hour. >> axelrod: jeff jamieson with the extreme weather. thank you. north of los angeles tonight, firefighters are trying to contain a wildfire that's been threatening homes. more than 1,200 acres have burned, since the fire started last night, near the coastal community of solimar beach. here's mireya villarreal. >> reporter: dramatic video captures what evacuees faced as they drove right past the

they were fleeing the small community of solimar beach and a nearby campground, battling the traffic as the flames edged closer. >> this is insane! >> why are we stopping? >> reporter: the fire shut down u.s. 101, a major link between los angeles and santa barbara, jumped the highway, and also closed the union pacific rail line. ventura county fire battalion chief fred burris: >> the fire was wind-driven, with an offshore wind and blew down to the coast. >> reporter: that's where firefighters made their stand, preventing flames from reaching solimar beach, where three dozen upscale homes are sandwiched between the highway and the pacific ocean. >> we're hitting it with everything we've got. we're making an all-out assault to get this thing boxed up, especially with the heavy weather. >> reporter: ventura county division chief norm plott says torrential downpours driven by el nino may be on the way, but in the past six weeks, this part of the county has received less

>> the fire's going to resist our control, because we're at the end of this drought-- hopefully we're at the end of the drought. and we're not quite out of the woods yet. >> reporter: but even when the fire is fully extinguished, residents here could face a new danger-- mudslides. >> we're still predicting an el nino to fall on the hills after the first of the year, with heavy rains, and so that's something that i'm sure engineers will be looking at, for stabilization, if we do get some heavy rains. >> reporter: investigators still don't know what caused this fire, but at this point, it is only 10% contained, and, jim, firefighters tell us they expect to be out here for at least three more days. >> axelrod: mireya, thank you very much. heavy rains have caused widespread flooding in great britain. in lancashire, northwest of london, many had to be rescued by boat and the military was deployed to stack sandbags. fedex said stormy weather is partly to blame for late holiday packages. on this night after christmas,

deliveries. here's marlie hall. >> reporter: for this customer, fedex was a day late, and he was more than a dollar short. >> it's december 26, and this package just showed up. looks pretty nice, doesn't it? yeah. good work, fedex. thanks. >> reporter: others took to social media, where hashtag fedex fail is trending. one person wrote, "so much for the guaranteed two-day delivery. i want my money back." while some came to the carrier's defense. "they can't control the weather." and "did you wait until the last minute to place your order?" prchristmas storms in the south and deadly tornadoes slowed deliveries. employees, who volunteered to work, delivered thousands of packages on christmas day, and the company opened some pickup centers on christmas morning for customers to get their packages. but for this man, it was all too late. he picked up a gift for his

eve. >> wanted to get it right on time. to, deliver it to my, you know, loved ones. so it's a little disappointing. >> reporter: fedex shipped a record-breaking 317 million packages between black friday and christmas eve, a 12% jump from last year, sparked by a surge in online orders. kevan hills is with stella service, a retail research firm. he says after weather delayed holiday packages in 2013, fedex and u.p.s. made improvements to cut down delivery times. overall, they're getting better. >> yeah, and i think it's easy to blame the carriers, when wes see things like weather and bad things happen, especially around the holiday season. but i think overall, the carriers are getting faster. >> reporter: fedex officials say they're still catching up with christmas deliveries today, but rival u.p.s. said it was done with its 630 million deliveries by 8:00 p.m. on christmas eve. the u.p.s. air hub is in louisville, where bad weather wasn't an issue.

>> axelrod: marlie, thank you very much. it has now been more than six months since there has been any word from the leader of isis, abu bakr al-baghdadi. while his location remains a mystery, tonight it appears he has broken his silence. in london, here's jonathan vigliotti. >> reporter: reclusive isis leader abu bakr al-baghdadi, seen here in july of 2014, released a 24-minute audio message today, where he vowed that russia and u.s.-led air-strikes would only make the islamic state tougher. in the recording he said, and he taunted the united states for not putting boots on the ground. but for as bold as baghdadi's message was, for the first time, he admitted isis had suffered serious setbacks on the battlefield. those losses were documented in a report this week by a leading conflict-monitoring group. they say islamic state lost as much as 14% of their territory

just last month, u.s.-backed iraqi forces pushed isis out of the town of sinjar. this week, iraqi troops advanced on the isis-held city of ramadi. the group's largest stronghold in iraq. baghdadi's last public message was posted in may of this year. this new recording, released on an isis twitter page, refers to events as recent as december 14. baghdadi's health has been in question for many months. he's been reported injured or killed several times in the past. but, jim, apparently, he's still alive. >> axelrod: jonathan vigliotti, covering for us tonight in our london newsroom. thank you. the "washington post" reporter imprisoned in iran had some christmas visitors. the iranian government allowed jason rezaian's wife and mother to see him for several hours. rezaian has been in jail for 522 days, convicted of espionage on evidence that has not been made public. a chicago police officer shot

morning. the officer was responding to reports of a man threatening his father with a baseball bat. both the man and a neighbor were killed. chicago police, currently under intense pressure for the fatal shooting of an unarmed teen last year, say this latest shooting is under investigation. as mass shootings dominate the headlines, the threat is dominating many minds. now, as julianna goldman shows us, a fitness instructor in ohio is offering classes on how to fight back. >> running's not off the table. running is always, always, always the best choice. >> reporter: aaron jannetti runs endeavor defense and fitness. tonight he's holding a free active shooter response training course. >> right now there's a big buzz going around in the wake of paris and san bernardino, things like that. >> reporter: since the recent terrorist attacks, demand has skyrocketed. >> we filled a january course,

here in a couple of weeks, 40 people already, and i have a wait list of about 20 more. >> reporter: amid heightened fears of terrorism, and mass shootings making headlines just about every day, jannetti's course, outside of columbus, ohio, is one of many being offered across the country. as the year draws to an end, mass shootings are weighing heavily on people's minds. a new poll shows that 68% of americans listed mass shootings in the u.s. as very or extremely important news events this year. linda gause was among the nearly three dozen participants earlier this week, who spent the majority of the three-hour course learning to tackle, disarm, and fight back, when, and if, possible. >> i'm older than a lot of people here, and for me it's a matter of having confidence as i go forward. >> generally, when we think about guns, knives, and scary things, we think about running. we think about hiding. and, unfortunately, that reality is just not there. >> reporter: the f.b.i., in this

find themselves in an active shooter situation to run, hide, or, as a last option, fight. jannetti is certified in defensive firearms tactics. ( screaming ) you just had people holding up their fingers saying, "pow, pow." i don't think you would feel nearly the adrenaline rush that you feel when people come in, in high gear, with things that look like rifles. >> we try to get them in there, fighting, and make them at least understand if that's where you would find yourself, then you need to be able to do it and you're capable of doing it. >> reporter: preparing people for the worst-case scenario. julianna goldman, cbs news, washington. >> axelrod: a rescue operation is under way to save endangered sea turtles. and sittin' on the dock of the bay, watching big ben roll in, when the cbs evening news continues. continues.

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full week of 2015, many parts of the northeast are still waiting for their first blast of winter weather. but on cape cod, the temperatures have been a blessing for the folks working to save endangered sea turtles. here's jericka duncan. >> reporter: every year around this time, volunteers work from sunup to sundown to save the endangered kemp's ridley turtle. after spending the summer on cape cod, they struggle to find their way out of the frigid waters in december. cape cod bay's hook-shaped geography makes it even more difficult for the kemp's ridleys to escape. last year, volunteers found over 1,200 trapped sea turtles along the shores. rescuers packed the living ones into these small banana boxes and rushed them to marine hospitals across the country, where they were numbered, diagnosed, and treated. a year ago, more than half of these turtles were dead when they washed ashore, because the water was so cold.

then, is director of the sea turtle hospital at the new england aquarium. >> when they come here, a lot of these turtles are so cold that their heartbeat is somewhere around one, two, three, four beats a minute. >> reporter: but officials with the massachusetts audubon society say this year the sea surface temperature in cape cod bay is the warmest it's ever been. bob prescott, who has been rescuing turtles for more than 30 years, says the kemp's ridley are getting comfortable in the bay. >> water temperature being very, very warm late in the season, keeps them here longer. two weeks ago when we had a big pulse of stranded turtles, 80% to 90% of those turtles were still alive, which is just unheard of for december. >> reporter: a december to remember for the volunteers who are expected to save more of the endangered species and return them to where they belong. jericka duncan, cbs news, new york. >> axelrod: up next, the

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the villages in florida, gary search didn't have to search very far for the right ride. they're all over. this community caters to folks like search-- 55 and older. it is crawling with low-speed electric vehicles. here, there are more carts than cars. for people who have never been here, this is quite the sight. >> with over 60,000 golf carts in the villages, it's a major form of transportation. >> reporter: his tricked-out candy apple red "california roadster" looks more like a hotrod, and has safety features, too. and this is legal on the road. >> it's legal because it has a license plate on it. >> reporter: are they strict about patrolling the streets of golf carts around here? >> they are, for safety reasons, because when you're driving a typical golf cart at those speeds, with the break system, it's not safe for them. this car has disk brakes on all four tires. >> reporter: according to the sumter county sheriff's office, over the past eight years, 16 people in the villages riding in golf carts have been killed in

almost all of them were not wearing seat belts and were ejected. >> we used to have two cars and two carts, and now we only have the one car and two carts; we have two street legals. >> reporter: retired new yorker tim carroll bought his first street legal six years ago. in terms of insurance, this falls under your home insurance.f >> no, you have to register it just like a car and you have to get insurance. >> reporter: car insurance and seat belts are required. the maximum speed limit is 25 miles per hour. does it feel any less safe? >> on occasion it does. i mean, you have to be more aware when you're on the roads, because, obviously we're a smaller vehicle, and cars think that you're a golf cart. they think that you're slower and so they try to beat you through intersections. >> reporter: low-speed vehicles, or "l.s.v.'s" as they are known, are on the fast track to beingd allowed on the city streets in los angeles and new york, where politicians believe the future is slower, and at least in florida, cooler, too. david begnaud, cbs news, the villages, florida.

los angeles, a giant arrived. its name is the "benjamin franklin," and it's the largest container ship ever to dock in north america. the "ben franklin" is longer than the empire state building, wider than an olympic swimming pool. just ahead, her call to arms was for hugs. we remember the "hug lady" of fort hood. fort hood. when heartburn strikes, take zantac for faster relief than nexium or your money back. take the zantac it challenge. it's here, the first gummy multivitamin... ...from centrum. a complete, and tasty way to support... ...your energy... ...immunity... and metabolism like never before. centrum multigummies. see gummies in a whole new light. hey buddy, let's get these dayquil liquid gels and go. but these liquid gels are new. mucinex fast max. it's the same difference. these are multi-symptom.

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>> axelrod: >> axelrod: we close tonight at fort hood, texas, where troopsoo are remembering a very special woman named elizabeth laird and the power of her hugs. >>he was a wonderful, wonderful lady. >> reporter: she was the beloved "hug lady," and for the last dozen years, elizabeth laird was there for them with open arms. more than half a million of them, actually, soldiers from fort hood anxiously heading off to war, and some, with the deepest relief imaginable, coming home. >> she meant an awful lot to a lot of us, and she had a wonderful, wonderful impact on everybody that she had met. >> reporter: last month, when word got out that elizabeth was losing her long battle with breast cancer, the troops made it their mission to return the hugs, and to thank the 84-year- old air force veteran for her service.

sent her a letter. >> we are a fortunate nation to have men and women who sacrifice for our freedom. thank you for all you have done at fort hood. >> axelrod: last tuesday, elizabeth was honored with a big award for her devotion to the troops. two days later, on christmas eve, she passed away. >> she was a smiling face, you know, in a time where people could have possibly been afraid. >> axelrod: elizabeth laird, who made the world better with her hugs, would have been 84 next month. and there is already a push to rename the fort hood deployment center in memory of elizabeth laird. and that's the cbs evening news for tonight. later on cbs, "48 hours." for now, i'm jim axelrod in new york, and for all of us here at cbs news, thanks for joining us, and good night. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by

access.wgbh.orgher own relative... why she won't face charges. it's almost a wrap for 2015... a look back at some of the biggest highlights in entertainment. now, nevada's first choice for news, this is 8 newsnow, weekend edition ((sharie johnson)) > an off-duty officer shoots at a relative after she thinks an intruder is insider her house. it happened late last night in north las vegas. mauricio marin has details from the neighborhood where it happened. ((mauricio marin)) police say it was an accidental shooting after shooting a relative inside their home. an off-duty metro officer and her husband were sleeping and were spooked. police say the accidental

neighborbood near west ann road and allen lane in north las vegas friday night. an off-duty metro officer was sleeping at home with her husband. they heard something that startled them . when the husband and wife heard something---they drew their guns and started shooting at a person approaching them. police say it turns out it was their relative who also lives in the same house with them. the woman was shot at least one time. she was taken to the hospital and is in stable condition. once again---police say this was an accidental shooting. neighbors we've spoken with who didn't want to go on camera were stunned when they found out what happened. but are glad no one is seriously hurt. no one answered the door when we knocked. because it was an accident...police say no one will likely be facing any criminal charges in this case. mauricio marin....8 news now. ((sharie johnson)) > we are pressing for more details that surround the death of a hiker today. here's what we know. it happened at red rock canyon . metro police say the hiker fell 100 feet into a gully around

las vegas fire and rescue