holiday shopping spending falls short of projections as as retailers scramble to make up lost revenue. more snow and misery as utility crews battle to restore power to tens of thousands who have been without for days. and rescue ice breakers are closing in on that tour ship trapped ntarne aica. captioning funded by cbs this is the " this is the "cbs morning news" for friday, december 27th, 2013. good morning. good to be with you. i'm anne-marie green. we are getting our first snapshot of the holiday spending, and it hasn't been as bad as retailers feared. sales are up 3.5% through december 24th, and that's

according to mastercard advisers' spending pulse. still that falls short of the 3.9% increase forecast by the national retailer federation. terrell brown reports. >> reporter: retailers couldn't get americans to spend as much as they expected, so now retail stores are cutting prices even more. even along chicago's exclusive michigan avenue, stores were offering 75% off. retail analyst craig johnson. >> retailers overshot the mark in terms of apparel supply. so there's an imbalance of supply in demand in apparel leading to all the dramatic promotions you see today. >> reporter: storms couldn't make up for the storms and two key shopping weekends and the lackluster economy. >> people aren't buying as much. why aren't they buying as much? because their incomes are very soft. >> reporter: average incomes grew 1.1% between 2007 and 2012 but this year it's up only 6%. a wild card is the projected $20

billion spent on gift cards. the value of the card is not recorded until they're redeemed. richard ortiz is the manager of this banana republican in manhattan. >> traffic is a little bit down compared to previous years. i think we've seen a lot more online shopping. >> reporter: web sales were up over 10% from last year and more people did their holiday shopping on smartphones. businesses made up 49% of all online traffic. and stores here like macy's opened up thursday at 6:00. retailer analysts we talked to said this week, between christmas and new year's could be the busiest shopping week of the year. terrell brown, cbs news, new york. president obama took a break from his hawaii vacation to sign several bills into law on thursday. a bipartisan budget bill eases automatic spending and prevents another partial government shutdown for two years.

it restores about $63 billion in pentagon and domestic spending. mr. obama also signed a defense bill that includes a crackdown on sexual assaults in the military. the pentagon estimates there were 26,000 victims last year. on the "cbs moneywatch" now, unemployment benefits are due to run out, and super low airfares at delta thanks to a glitch. marlie hall is at the new york stock exchange with that and more. good morning, marlie. >> good morning, anne-marie. d-day is fast approaching for folks receiving long-term unemployment benefits. the gridlock in congress which failed to extend the federal program means benefits will start to run out starting tomorrow more more than a million americans who have been out of work for six months or more. on the plus side the number of americans applying for weekly unemployment benefits has taken a sharp drop. this surprised economists and shows with fewer people losing their jobs, the economy could be improving. asian markets finished

higher as manufacturing in japan expanded at its fastest rate in more than seven years. tokyo's nikkei added a fraction. hong kong's hang seng gained a quarter percent. investors were in a buying mood on wall street. the dow climbed 122 points closing at its 50th record high this year, and the nasdaq was up 11. it was another sign the u.s. recovery is gaining momentum. the yield on the ten-year treasury gained 10% on thursday for the first time since september. meantime prospective home buyers are bracing for the stricter new federal mortgage rules which take hold next month. starting january 10th, lenders are required to review eight types of financial information about a borrower to better gauge income and debt. the broader review is to nail down a borrower's ability to repay and prevent the risky loans that atrributed to the financial crisis.

and a computer glitch allowed people to snatch up cheap flights on delta. a round trip between cincinnati and salt lake city for $48. the normal price is more than $400. delta said the glitch was fixed after about two hours. it plans to honor all tickets sold. anne-marie? >> i never hear about these glitches until after they're already fixed. >> me either. >> i want to be one of the lucky ones. marlie hall at the new york stock exchange. thank you very much, marlie. well, ups and fedex are playing catchup this morning. the shippers are still digging out of a holiday backlog created when they missed delivery deadlines. as manuel bojorquez reports they're dealing with disappoint and angry customers. >> reporter: ups workers spent the day racing to catch up. the company had delivered 132 million packages in the week leading up to christmas, a pace of 300 per second. but it wasn't fast enough to clear an avalanche of holiday orders, including a package for jeff cormier in dallas.

>> i don't know what more to say about how frustrating it was. >> reporter: it was an iphone case with his daughter's picture. his grandmother flew back home without it. >> that's what i miss the most. you miss the aha moment. >> reporter: you want her to reopen it in front of you. >> yeah. you can't recapture it, that wow factor. that's gone. >> reporter: a short holiday season and icy backlogs became insurmountable as last-minute shoppers poured in. many customers trusted store guarantees that deliveries would be made by christmas. neither understand nor fedex would disclose how many packages were late. in a statement ups said the volume of air packages in our system exceeded the network as demand was much greater than forecast. ups expected the majority of any delayed packages would be delivered thursday. in its statement fedex said every single package is important to us, and we will continue to work directly with

customers to address any isolated incidents. rather than wait longer, some customers showed up at distribution centers like this one for overdue packages. the nation's largest online retailer amazon said it is reviewing the performance of delivery carriers. manuel bojorquez, cbs news, dallas. well, the lights are coming back on in the upper midwest and new england for families who lost power in last weekend's ice storm. utility crews are working around the clock in cold and icy conditions. they've restored power to all about 100,000 customers. another 100,000 in canada are in the dark. some amilies have been without electricity for a week now, and it could be days before they get it back. a massive explosion rocked beirut, lebanon, this morning. the state news agency reports five people are debt, including a former u.s. ambassadors who

convoy was targeted. 15 others were wounded. the blast near the four seasons hotel and government buildings could be heard across the city. it sent flames and black ceremony billowing into the sky. passengers and crew aboard a ship trapped in thick ice near antarctica since christmas eve could soon be free. a chinese ice breaker that's been steaming toward them is in sight this morning. a picture by the expedition leader shows it on the horizon there just above a group of penguins. ko im reports. >> reporter: a view of the research ship is a big white lie. while it appears that the boat is sitting high and dry on a snowy field, it is, in fact, on the ocean, the frozen antarctic ocean. 74 scientists, journalists, and crew are aboard the ship which left new zealand last month. the mission was to retrace the 1911 journey of an australian explorer douglas mawson.

they were exploring and stopped cold on tuesday. it's very cold in the southern hemisphere, but when you're this far south, blizzards are a year-round threat. temperatures are well below zero. scientist chris tierney is tracking this expedition. >> we have wind speeds on average of 50 kilometers an hour reaching in excess of 70 kilometers an hour. the vessel hasn't moved for the last two days. >> reporter: three ice breaker ships are making their way to the ice-locked vessel, but tearily told cbs news via skype the passengers are prepared. >> we've got a couple of weeks of fresh food and on top of that if things get really bad, we've got three weeks of glorious hydrated food. >> ko im, cbs news. american leaders are pushing peace talks to end the fighting in south sudan. no breakthrough occurred on thursday after meeting with the country's president. he accuses a former deputy of trying to topple the government.

the former vice president didn't attend the talks. the u.n. says more than 120 thousand people have fled their homes because of a conflict. and an american development worker kidnapped by al qaeda two years ago is appealing to president obama. in a new video warren weinstein asks the president to negotiate for his release. >> mr. obama, you're a family man, and so you understand the deep mental anxiety and anguish that i have been experiencing for these past more than two years. i'm, therefore, appealing to you on a humanitarian basis if nothing else and asking that you take the necessary actions to expedite my release. >> the state department is trying to authenticate the video. we don't know when it was

filmed. well, coming up on the "morning news" now, same-sex marriage heads to the nation's highest court. utah officials plan to take their fight against same-sex marriage to the u.s. supreme court. this is the "cbs morning news." court. this is the "cbs morning news." going to the kmart winter sales event? good. get up to 60% off winter apparel, and shop your way members get 10% back in points. kmart. get in. get more. >> as a kid, i made a list of all the places i wanted to visit. i'm still not gonna make it to mars, but, thanks to hotwire's incredibly low travel prices, i can afford to cross more things off my list. this year alone, we went to the top of the statue of liberty and still saved enough to go to texas, to a real dude ranch. hotwire checks the competition's

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christmas colors lit up the sky in sweden. charged particles from large solar flares collided with gases in the atmosphere to create aurora borealis to create the northern lights. green is the most common but high oxygen created a rare red making it a special treat on christmas. the state of utah is taking its fight over same-sex marriage to the supreme court. it comes a week after a federal utah judge declared the ban on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional. we have the very latest from

susan mcginnis in washington. good morning, susan. good morning, anne-marie. now the state is trying to stop them with the help of the nation's highest court. utah's attorney general is planning a last-ditch effort to end same-sex marriages in the conservative state. sean reyes plans to file an emergency appeal with the u.s. supreme court perhaps as early as today. >> you may kiss. >> reporter: same-sex weddings began there last week after u.s. district court judge robert shelby declined the ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. he wrote current laws deny its gay and lesbian citizens their fundamental right to marry and in so doing demeans the dignity of these same-sex couples for no rational reason. >> i never thought utah would allow gay marriage. >> reporter: since the ruling, gay and lesbian couples have rushed to get married with hundreds of wedding licences being issued. four counties have fought the effort, arguing it's against state law. >> our office today isn't

issuing marriage licences. >> reporter: thursday the last of the holdouts relented and began issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples. >> we deserve it. we're the same as everyone else. >> reporter: supreme court justice sonia sotomayor may rule on its herself or ask the nine-member court to weigh in. >> she might possibly make this decision herself but she is expected, anne-marie, to ask the entire court to weigh in. she has jurisdiction over the state so that's why she may make the decision herself. >> all right. susan mcginnis in washington. straight ahead your weather and in sports a tying buzzer beater in o.t. lifts the hawks over the cavs. buzzer beater in o.t. lifts the hawks over the cavs.

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here's a look at today's forecast in some cities around the country. new york will be sunny today. miami, high of 80. chicago, partly sunny. sunny in dallas, and mostly sunny in l.a. time now for a check of the national forecast. 6 to 12 inches of snow is forecast in western new york. temperatures hover in the single digits in northern new england but head to the 30s from virginia through the midwest. it will be dry and comfortable in the south. the west will be clear with highs near 70, and showers are possible in washington, texas, and florida. in sports now, we begin with

a double overtime buzzer beater in cleveland. the cavs versus the hawks. kyrie irving poured in 40 points for cleveland, including 12 in the second overtime, but it was this shot by atlanta's jeff with under five seconds left with a fallaway jumper that bounced around the rim. he scored a career-high 34 points as atlanta beat the cavs 127-125. lebron james has been named the "associated press" male athlete of the year. james is just the third basketball player to win the award. he led miami to its second straight nba title, winning the regular season and nba finals mvp honors in the process. and paul blair, one of the great outfielders in major league history, has passed away. blair spent 17 seasons in the majors, most of them roaming center field for the baltimore orioles. known for his smooth-as-silk

defense, he won eight golden gloves and appeared in six world series. paul blair died yesterday in baltimore of an apparent heart attack, and he was 69 years old. when we return, another look at this morning's top stories and conviction overturned. a church official found guilty of covering up sex abuse by priests is ordered released. p sex abuse by priests is ordered released. well i drove grandpa to his speed dating this week, so i should probably get the last roll... yeah but i practiced my bassoon. [ mom ] and i listened. [ brother ] i can do this. [ imitates robot ] everyone deserves ooey, gooey, pillsbury cinnamon rolls. make the weekend pop. you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec-d®. powerful relief of nasal congestion and other allergy symptoms -- all in one pill.

zyrtec-d®. at the pharmacy counter. and other allergy symptoms -- all in one pill. using stilts to take down the lights? not good. going to the kmart winter sales event? good. get up to 60% off winter apparel, and shop your way members get 10% back in points. kmart. get in. get more. says it's ready to do... anw the hospital is keeping them from making the move. plus: a pivotal vote for a-c transit today. will workers approve a deal that could a a major strike. and up against the clock... again. the latest roadblocks keeping californians from signing up for the new heal care system. join us for kpix 5 news this morning... beginning at 4:3

here's a look at today's forecast in some cities around the country. washington, d.c., will be mostly sunny today. atlanta will be sunny as well. sunshine in st. louis and denver but cloudy in seattle with afternoon showers. and here's another look at this morning's top story. an initial look shows the holiday shopping season was lackluster for retailers. sales are up 3.5% over last year. the preseason forecast predicted a 3.9% increase. a roman catholic official has been cleared in a landmark

priest abuse case. monsignor william lynn was convicted last year for covering up sexual abuses by priests he supervised. well, yesterday a pennsylvania appeals court overturned that conviction. the court rejected arguments that he supervised the welfare of any particular child. the reversal turned on disputed interpretations of the state's former child welfare law. the district attorney plans to appeal. and former nfl player jon kitna is a high school math teacher and football coach now and for one week he'll be the third string quarterback for the dallas cowboys. that will earn kitna $53,000, and he says that he will donate the entire paycheck to his tacoma, washington, school. kitna played for 15 seasons before retiring in 2011. what a great guy. coming up after your local news on "cbs this morning," the must-have tech gadgets for 2014 looking ahead. i'm anne-marie green. this is the "cbs morning news."

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a young woman in kentucky has had a remarkable journey on her road to medical school. she spent her years in high school homeless. jordan vilines of our lexington affiliate wkyt reports. >> there's not one strand not lit. >> are you serious? >> yeah. well, i kept them all before i started. oi, look. >> reporter: it's a story about perseverance. >> the only way i've been able to succeed is by only seeing one step in front of me. >> reporter: a story about overcoming the odds. >> appreciating the challenge is what kept me kind of protected me from that life that was going on around me at home. >> reporter: and a story that centers around this woman, 25-year-old kayla kinker who at a young age was faced with

struggles many of us can't comprehend. >> we would go sometimes extended periods of time without basic utilities like gas and electric or even water. >> reporter: kinker grew up in northern kentucky with her mother living in an environment she calls unstable, sometimes not knowing where she'd even sleep that night or where her next meal was coming from, but during the summer before her senior year of high school -- >> when it became like too much to handle, there was a counselor at my high school who said let me just make one call for you. >> reporter: that call was to the welcome house, a homeless shelter for women and children located in covington, kentucky, where kinker would spend her senior year, and it was there that her case manager helped her move onto the next step, college. >> i went to berea college, which is an incredible institution, specifically for students who come from low income. they provide full tuition for anyone who's smart enough to get accepted or smart enough to apply. >> kinker met her husband while

studying at berea college and after they grated graduated, they embarked on the next step together. >> i used to dream that i was accepted to medical school and then i would wake and realize it was just a dream and then i would realize all over again it wasn't a dream, that i actually did get accepted. >> reporter: the couple just completed their first year at uk medical school, but kinker's never strayed too far from her long-term goal will be. >> my goal is to open a community center in one of these underserved regions. >> reporter: her life goal is to give back because even after her ability to achieve, she said her ability to turn adversity into accomplishment has been made possible by others. >> sometimes we don't realize the potential we have to change someone else's life and so i can't wait to play a role in helping someone else change their life.

>> reporter: jordan vilines in lexington, wkyd. coming up after your local news on "cbs this morning," it's been a record year for stocks on wall street. we'll see what's driving the major indices. plus, the top tech gadgets of the next year and we'll show you next year's must-have items. and wynton marsalis sits down with legendary opera singer martina arroyo. that's the "cbs morning news" for this morning. thanks for watching. i'm anne-marie green. have a great day. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

your realtime captioner is mrs. linda m. macdonald good morning, everyone. it's friday, december 27. i'm michelle griego. >> i'm mark kelly. frank has the morning off. >> let's get a check on weather and traffic. our first check of the day. >> boy, it's another chilly start to the day.

high, thin clouds not as cold as yesterday. those clouds act like an insulator as a blanket so it's 33 in santa rosa compared to yesterday at 28. 40 in san jose. and it is yet another "spare the air" day. more coming up. >> and checking the roadways outside right now, we have a lot of overnight roadwork. caltrans is back in business. we'll tell you about your morning commute coming up. developing news about a family's fight to keep a 13- year-old girl on life support. it could be headed back into the courtroom. >> jahi mcmath has been on an ventilator since she had tonsil surgery a couple of weeks ago. another facility in the bay area and the family was ready to move her out of the hospital. she would need certain tubes inserted. but the hospital says it won't do that. >> children's hospital does not believe performing surgical