a major winter storm slams the et a major winter storm slams the east coast, ice piles up on the southeast, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands and stopping traffic dead in its tracks while snow starts to fall on some of the nation's biggest cities, forcing air travelers to rethink their plans. corvette catastrophe. a sinkhole swallows eight prized sports cars on display at a museum. and while some of america's favorite athletes struggle at the winter games, russia's stars shine bright in one of the olympics signature events. captioning funded by cbs this is the "cbs morning news" for thursday, february 13th, 2014. good morning. good to be with you. i'm anne-marie green. well, this morning a crippling

snow and ice storm is paralyzing the southeast and it's headed north. the deadly winter storm system stretches from alabama to maine. road conditions deteriorated quickly. the storm barreled into the carolinas so fast the drivers got caught in massive traffic jams. many were forced to abandon their cars. at least 12 deaths are blamed on the dangerous weather and snow conditions. the ice and freezing rain snapped tree limbs and power lines. more than a half million homes and businesses are without power, more than a quarter million of south carolina alone. and the storm pelted the nation's capitol over the night with snow and ice. susan mcginnis is in washington. susan, good morning. >> reporter: anne-marie, good morning. this snow is coming down fast and hard. it started in the evening last night and if anything, it's getting worse. it's the kind of snow that as soon as you shovel or plow, it gets covered again. we're expecting about a foot to a foot and a half before it's

all over. it's a similar story up and down the northeast. the crippling winter storm that pounded the south has moved north. more than a foot of snow could fall in parts of the northeast today. >> my wife and i, we're from atlanta. we just moved up, and we just have no clue on how to deal with all the snow. >> reporter: crews in washington, d.c., worked through the night trying to keep roads and sidewalks clear. they'll be shoveling the rest of the day. >> everybody should be anticipating a 24-hour snow and ice event. >> reporter: all government offices are closed today as this is expected to be the worst winter storm to hit the nation's capitol in four years. schools across the eastern seaboard are closed this morning as well. hundreds of thousands of people are without electricity. it could take days for crews to repair all of the downed power lines. >> we have a new born with us, and the power is out.

>> reporter: folks in north carolina experienced what atlanta saw during the last major storm, cars abandoned as snow and ice turned busy roads into parking lots and sometimes even ice rinks. hopefully the people will be heeding the warnings. i don't think they're going to have much choice, staying home and riding this out. everybody hopes it will pick up. and as you can guess, the children are going to be citizenship when they wake up. >> i'm sure they'll be the only ones who are happy. susan mcginnis in washington. thanks a lot, susan. well, the snow is creating travel nightmares. marlie hall is here with the latest. good morning. >> reporter: anne-marie, good morning to you. this nor'easter is slamming the east coast, and new york is no exception. here in manhattan we're expecting up to a foot of snow. it will mix with rain later on, and forecasters say it likely won't be done until about 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. now, as of right now, public schools here in the city are scheduled to open today.

new york city mayor bill de-bellagio is urging everyone to refrain from unnecessary travel, and he's urging everyone to use mass transit if they must go out. now, speaking of transportation, we know that weather conditions like this can wreak havoc on air travel. nationwide 1,200 flights have been canceled. more than 1,100 delays and more than -- rather that's 1,300 delays nationwide and more than 1,200 flights into and out of new york city's three major airports have been canceled. atlanta's hartsfield-jackson airport, the busiest in the world, has been hit with nearly 800 cancellations. and, anne-marie, there could be more before this late winter storm runs its course. >> i'm sure. marlie hall here in new york. thanks a lot, marlie. this morning the storm has moving up the atlantic coast.

our meteorologist eric fisher of boston's wbz has more. >> we've seen impacts this morning. i'm sure we're not finished yet. snow from boston, philadelphia, d.c., and all the western suburbs. this is going to be a nightmare drive for a lot of folks. we've already seen huge airport implications. more canceled flights by the hundreds today. then we head toward the afternoon. the snow just north of new york city up through massachusetts and into new england. some rain tries to mix in near the coast. that will cut down accumulations there. still extending a band of snow right on down into the chesapeake. looking at snow totals, 8-14 in d.c. high totals on the west side of town. 6 to 12 in philadelphia, just getting over their ice storm, 3 to 6 in the city of boston, higher totals just west of town. plus we're eyeing a forecast for recovery in the northeast. lots without power. look at the highs. 30s for today. the areas most impacted. we head toward friday, still low 30s and 40s across the region.

more of the same on saturday. most of the southeast sees below average temperatures until monday of next week. not helping a lot of folks living in the dark. i'm meteorologist eric fisher for cbs news. there's also extreme weather overseas. britain is getting hit with strong winds and flood-producing rain. a southeast of storms started in december. land near the thames river has been swamped. it's the wettest in england since 1776. that's when records first were kept. winds top 100 miles per hour yesterday. president obama said he is pleased congress passed the bill to raise the federal debt limit. the senate passed the bill yesterday but not before senate republicans tried to hold it up. they call it reckless. the bill allows the government to borrow all the money it needs to pay its bills. the house passed a similar measure last week. most states have fallen behind in their effort to sign people up for the affordable care acted. the white house said its goal is to have 7 million people signed up by march.

the administration says about 1 million people signed up in january. in total, nearly 3.3 million people have enrolled. on the "cbs moneywatch" now, a blockbuster cable merger, and stocks stumble for whole foods. jill wagner is at the new york stock exchange with that and more. good morning, jill. >> good morning, anne-marie. the two largest cable tv companies in this country are merging. cbs news has confirmed comcast is buying time warner table in an all stock deal worth $45 billion. now that price is about 17% above the closing price of time warner's shares wednesday. an official announcement is expected this morning. the friendly merger and a hostile takeover batter charter communications has been in a protracted battle to take over times warner.

tokyo's nikkei dropped nearly 2%, snapping a three-day winning streak. hong kong's hang seng lost half a percent. stocks on wall street were mixed as a four-day rally hit the skids. the dow jones lost nearly 31 points. the nasdaq finished 10 points higher. whole foods reported that its first quarter profits fell below analysts' forecasts. that sent whole foods stocks lower in after hours trading. whole foods is facing stiffer competition in the natural or organic marketplace and has had to lower prices. whole foods operates 373 stores in the u.s. and a reorganization at verizon wireless means that about 3,000 workers will have to transfer or find new jobs. verizon says it's closing five of its customer service call centers. verizon is the largest u.s. wireless carrier employing about 73,000 people. anne-marie? >> jill wagner at the new york stock exchange. thanks a lot, jill. coming up on the "morning

news," a rough day for u.s. olympians. shaunie davis falls short of his three-peat and u.s. takes a hit. first, a sinkhole takes seven corvettes at a museum. this is the "cbs morning news." [ mom ] and i listened. [ brother ] i can do this. [ imitates robot ] everyone deserves ooey, gooey, pillsbury cinnamon rolls. make the weekend pop. to cover up flaws and make skin look pretty. but there's one that's so clever, it makes your skin look better even after you take it off. neutrogena healthy skin liquid makeup. 98% of women saw improvement in their skins' natural texture, tone, or clarity. does your makeup do that? neutrogena® cosmetics. recommended most by dermatologists.

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getting your vegetables every day? when i can. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. two full servings of vegetables for only 50 delicious calories. ah, this is a paiul ah, this is a painful sight for car lovers. surveillance cameras caught the moment a massive sinkhole opened up underneath two classic corvettes on wednesday. eight vintage american sports cars ended up being swallowed as they sat in the national corvette museum in bowling green, kentucky. no one was injured. the museum is about a mile from the only factory in the u.s. that makes corvettes. officials hope to get the damaged section repaired in time for its 20th anniversary celebration in august. as adam ghassemi of our nashville affiliate explains, each car has a unique history.

>> those cars were our babies, and it's upsetting to have anything like this happen. >> reporter: it opened up overnight. around 5:45 a.m. wednesday morning tmor morning, the museum's security company called when the motion triggered the alarm. >> i'm so thankful this did not happen during normal operating business hours. very glad that it happened at the time that it did. >> reporter: the hole swallowed eight corvettes including two on loan from general motors ranging from the 1962 model including the 1.5,000,000. >> it's a very sad day. >> reporter: john anderson is visiting from los angeles and hopes to buy his third vette one day. he says it's hard to see likely milestone cars ruined. >> absolutely. they're all unique, in many cases a one-time-only vehicle or an example of, you know, a certain period in time. >> reporter: engineers are paying close attention to the hole and sky dome itself. so far both seem stable in a part of kentucky that's prone to sinkhole.

just across i-65 the museum is building a motorsports park where crews have seen many open up, but this is different. it's reasons why people come here from around the world. >> to have that loss, it's part of american history. >> that was adam ghassemi of our nashville station wtvf reporting. straight ahead. a wrap-up of wednesday's olympic headlines, and a college team puts up a prayer in hopes of staying on top. hoping with a prayer to stay on top. [ laughter ]

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here's here's a look at today's forecast in some cities around the country. well, you heard it earlier. new york can expect snow. rain in miami today. more snow in chicago though. it will be sunny in dallas and sunny in l.a. a look at sochi, russia, on day seven of events at the winter olympics. the united states added to its medal counts on wednesday, but one of its favorite athletes was left off the podium. alphonso van marsh is in sochi with more. good morning, alphonso. >> reporter: good morning, anne-marie. the anticipated event for men's sports gets under way today. in ice hockey there's a lot of pressure on team russia here from the locals in sochi. that's because russia has not won olympic gold in hockey since

1992, but the local crowd did go home happy last night at the iceberg skating palace. they are the first figure skaters in history to capture two golds in one olympics after winning the team event. russia swept the top two spots. at the podium in this event. it is the 13th time russia or the soviet union has won the pairs event. the united states grabbed two medals in the women's snowboarding halfpipe. idaho's kaitlyn farrington won gold while the favorite kelly clark took home the bronze. shaunie davis was denied a gold in the 1,000-meter speed skating. davis was trying to become the first man ever to win gold in the same event in three straight olympics. he finished eighth. and in women's hocey canada handed team usa its first loss of the olympics.

the canadians scored a controversial third period goal and the u.s. could not come back, losing 3-2. but it's possible these two teams could meet again in the gold medal games. so here's a look at your medal count after wednesday's events. norway leads with 12 gold medals. canada and the netherlands are tight with ten each and the u.s. is right behind with nine medals. anne-marie? >> alphonso van marsh in sochi, russia. thank you, alphonso. on wednesday new york yankees shortstop derek jeter said he will retire after the upcoming season. he guided the yankees to five world series titles during that time. and it looked like the number one basketball team was on the ropes. syracuse trailing pitt by one point with less than five seconds to play. the orange looking for one last shot by freshman tyler ennis. >> ennis, two seconds. he'll get a shot off. all the way. got it. he hit it! he hit the shot!

syracuse wins it. >> ah, the buzzer beater gives syracuse the 58-56 victory. they improve to 24-0 on the season. when we return, a legendary tv comedian miami. we remember sid caesar, a mass tev of sketch comedy influenced generations of performers. healtp lets you hear it in your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. [ m'm... ] great taste. [ tapping ] sounds good. campbell's healthy request. m'm! m'm! good.®

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,,,, here's a look at today's here's a look at today's forecast in some cities around the country. snow and rain in washington, d.c., but sunshine in atlanta that will hopefully melt some of that snow. st. louis will be sunny, so will denver, and rain in seattle. well, hollywood is remembering legendary comedian sid caesar. he's considered the father of comedy sketch shows like "saturday night live."

he died wednesday in los angeles and he was 91. as jim axelrod shows us, he had a gift for great talent. >> reporter: at his height, 60 million americans would tune in to watch sid caesar in 1950s. they were a pioneer of mixes of fine skits, sketches, and fine language gibberish. nominated for an emmy every year from 1951 to 1957, caesar had an eye for talent, hiring young writers like mel brooks, woody allen and neil simon. >> you had to know your business because these guys were geniuses. >> reporter: born to immigrants in yonkers, new york, in 1922, caesar sketched comedies on saturday nights long before "snl." >> come on.

>> it's a wonderful feeling when the audience laughs. oh, that's like -- that's the payoff. >> reporter: but the pressure nearly broke him. on top of the world in the 1950s, he bottomed out in the two decades after, struggling with booze and pills. >> i was doing a play in canada and i came out and i couldn't remember my lines, which never happened to me. and that's when i stopped drinking and i stopped taking pills. >> reporter: he would rebound with movies like "it's a mad, mad, mad, mad world" in 1967 and an appearance in "mad about you" in 1997. sid caesar, gone at 91. jim axelrod, cbs news, new york. coming up after your local news on "cbs this morning," updates on the winter storm hitting the south and east coast. i'm anne-marie green, and this is the "cbs morning news." and east coast. i'm anne-marie green, and this

is the "cbs morning news." ♪ ♪

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the campaign to recover the campaign to recover artwork looted by the nazis dates back to 1943. it's the subject of a new movie. mark strassmann tells us the story of the real monuments men. >> time to put a team together and protect the buildings, brilks, and art before the nazis destroy everything. >> reporter: the movie "the monuments men" tell the story of the nazis' looting 5 million pieces of art and the effort to save them. the allies sent a group of curator, historians, and architects to rescue the stolen art. >> they found themselves unintentionally as treasure hunters trying to track down

millions of cultural objects stolen by the nazis. >> reporter: robert edsel wrote the book that started the movie. >> they felt they had a contribution to make as part of winning the war, winning the freedom, by preserving the great cultural treasures of europe. >> reporter: eric ettlinger, now 88, is one of the three surviving monuments men. did you open up one of the boxes? >> yes. >> reporter: what did you see? >> i saw papers, paintings, books. >> reporter: he was 19 years old, fluent in german and could read german nazi codes. you're a german jew forced to leave germany who goes back to germany to help with the war effort. >> i went back as an american soldier not as a german. instead of taking things, we adopted a policy of returning them to the rightful owner. it gave us a good feeling that we were able to come along and

do that. >> reporter: last week sotheby's auctioned four paintings recovered by the monuments men. you can still see where the nazis numbered the stolen painting. he took the painting to the museum where other works are, but the whereabouts of other major works remain a mystery, including this portrait by raphael. >> i think there are hundreds of thousands of works of arts, cultural objects, library books that are still missing. we're still gathering them. >> reporter: just last year german authorities found they had found 1,400 pieces in this munich apartment including works by matisse and picasso. nearly seven decades after the war, the hunt continues. mark strassmann, cbs, new york. coming up after your local

news on "cbs this morning," the latest storm to hit the south and east coast. plus, google's expanding empire. we'll look at the controversy of the takeover of a storeship container. we'll talk about a company beyond beef and talk with its ceo. that's the "cbs morning news" for this thursday. thanks for watching. i'm anne-marie green. have a great day. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

griego. your realtime captioner is linda macdonald. good morning, everyone. it's thursday, february 13. i'm michelle griego. >> we made it! >> hi, everyone. i'm frank mallicoat. nearly 4:30 on your thursday. it's time for a little traffic

and weather. how are we doing? >> i lot of fog out there again, especially dense along the coastline. we are seeing that thing fog beginning to form. rain line staying to the north a chance of a few showers though in the bay area. we'll tell you where coming up. >> we are seeing more of that fog this morning already dancing in and out of some of our cameras. this is a live look in oakland on the nimitz. there's some roadwork out there southbound between jackson and oakland street and major roadwork on the approach to the antioch bridge. we'll tell you about that on "kcbs traffic" coming up stop the train! get off the train! >> what? >> get off the train! >> whoa, whoa. >> bart is investigating whether one of its police officers was justice in using a stun -- justified on using a stun gun on a man who didn't comply with orders. someone had called police to say the man was harassing passengers on the train but one witness says the man was harmless. and the bart officer tased him for absolutely no reason, according to the witness. the witness doesn't want to be shown on camera but she spoke with kpix 5's christin ayers. >>