it was tearing stuff up in that woods. >> a tornado touches down as a powerful spring storm sweeps across the southeast. and the threat of more severe weather continues into today. the hunt for malaysia airlines flight 370 enters a critical stage. the jetliner's black boxes yet to be found are nearing the end of their battery life as the sech enters its second month. this most improbable tournament run comes to an end with a uconn championship! >> and champions again. the university of connecticut takes down kentucky to win the ncaa tournament. this is the "cbs morning news" for tuesday, april 8th, 2014. good morning. good to be with you.

i'm anne-marie green. we begin with the continuing threat of severe storms along the eastern seaboard and gulf coast. a powerful weather system made its way across the southeast monday, dumping heavy rains, causing flash flooding and spawning at least one damaging tornado. >> reporter: the twister touched down in eastern north carolina monday evening. the winds were so strong, it lifted up a pickup truck, dumping it 40 yards from the highway. the driver and son were injured, but the man's brother-in-law says it's a miracle their injuries weren't more serious. >> you see a man to the hospital, walking away, got in the rescue squad, thanking god, crying and stuff. and me and myself, we cried all the way here. >> reporter: the tornado continued its damage, flattening eight homes and injuring at least three other people. >> it just was a big, dark, black cloud up top. and as it reached the ground, it

changed to a little bit of a white color. like i said, the most impressive thing was everything that was going up in the air, just swirling around in the periphery of it. >> reporter: the storm system dumped as much as seven inches of rain in some areas. mississippi, a 9-year-old girl died when she was swept away by a flash flood. drivers in metro atlanta were caught off guard when creeks and rivers swelled with rainwater. one woman was killed when she couldn't avoid the floodwater which was nearly 16 feet deep. >> you think about jumping in the water, but then you see how fast the water's running. you know, i mean, you're putting yourself in danger also, too. >> reporter: residents in an alabama apartment complex woke up monday morning to rising water right outside their doors. rescuers used boats to get some people to safety while others relied on their neighbors. >> it was a lot of banging on the door. people were coming around, making sure we were getting out. >> the neighbors were walking with their kids on their backs. and they were knocking on the doors as they walked by. >> reporter: josh rubenstein,

chief meteorologist for our los angeles station, kcbs, tells the us the threat is not over yet. >> we've got nasty weather headed towards the eastern seaboard and the gulf coast over the next 24 hours. an area of low pressure up to the north right over washington and new york city with this cold front that's trailing right along the coast. severe weather risk really going up and down the eastern seaboard. the possibility of some showers and thunderstorms as you make your way early into tuesday. but the real problem will be the potential flooding that we're going to see through central florida. this line of moisture really dropping right through the state. take a look at this on futurecast. you can see by the middle of the day, that stretch of moisture goes all the way from the northern portions of florida down to the south. and then look what happens. we've got the possibility of some severe weather sneaking in in the lower mississippi river valley. some active weather, but things do settle down. the search for flight 370 has hit another snag today. listening equipment has failed to detect more pings that could be coming from the missing malaysian jetliner's black box.

search crews detected the sounds coming from deep within the southern indian ocean over the weekend. susan mcginnis has more from washington. susan, good morning. >> anne-marie, good morning. search crews returning to that region have not been able to relocate those pings over the weekend. the australian ship that is towing that u.s. navy ping locator is going to keep trying for the next several days. but now that we are past the 30-day mark, time is running out for the batteries inside the flight data recorders if time hasn't run out already. >> reporter: australia's ocean shield equipped with a high-tech u.s. listening device is searching deep in the southern indian ocean, trying to relocate pings that could be from flight 370's data recorders. >> the towed locator pinger work continues. there have been no further contacts with any transmission, and we need to continue that for several days. >> reporter: the signals, one

lasting more than two hours, the other, 13 minutes, were first picked up over the weekend off the coast of australia. if crews can narrow the search zone, an unmanned underwater vehicle is ready to map the ocean floor for debris. >> we will not deploy it unless we get another transmission. >> reporter: batteries in the data recorders have likely reached the end of their 30-day expected life. but investigators remain hopeful, calling the pings their most promising lead yet. >> these pings are very distinctive. so to the trained ear, they know if these pings are coming from one of the locators. >> reporter: one month after the boeing 777 disappeared, the 239 people on board are still in the hearts of many in malaysia. condolence messages are plastered on billboards throughout kuala lumpur, the city from which the doomed flight took off. now, searchers mapping out a potential recovery effort say they're looking at a herculean

task, and not helping, anne-marie, is that winter in the southern hemisphere is on its way. >> one more thing to worry about. susan mcginnis in washington, thanks a lot, susan. in south africa, oscar pistorius returned to the stand in his own defense this morning. the double amputee track star known as the blade runner was emotional in testimony monday. his voice trembled as pistorius described his remorse for shooting his girlfriend. and he apologized to the family of reeva steenkamp. >> there hasn't been a moment since this tragedy happened that i haven't thought about your family. i wake up every morning, and you're the first people i think of, the first people i pray for. i can't imagine the pain and the sorrow and the emptiness that i've caused you and your family. i was simply trying to protect reeva. >> pistorius faces up to life in prison if convicted. he says the killing was an accident. the crisis in ukraine is escalating this morning.

pro-russian activists in donetsk declared their independence monday. they want a vote before moscow annexes that region. protesters in another pro-russian city set a government building on fire. they threw fire bombs and burned tires and plastic street barricades. the white house is warning russia not to move troops in. top diplomats from the u.s., russia, europe and ukraine are set to meet. and the army is releasing new details about the fort hood shooting. investigators say the gunman, ivan lopez, had an argument about a leave of absence just before the rampage wednesday. they say he killed three people and wounded 16 others over the course of eight minutes. president obama is scheduled to attend a memorial at fort hood tomorrow. freshman congressman vance mcallister is apologizing after a video emerged showing him

apparently kissing a staff member. an office surveillance camera allegedly captures the louisiana lawmaker hugging a woman. then they kiss for about 30 seconds before leaving together. a louisiana newspaper published the video. the married republican won office in november in part by touting his family values. >> but i will not stand by silent while liberals are running our country into the ground. >> in a statement he says he's fallen short. he asked for forgiveness from voters and his family. erg coming up the "morning news," the safety of your family car. we will show you how only a handful of midsize suvs survived the latest crash tests. this is the "cbs morning news." when folks in the lower 48 think about what they get from alaska, they think salmon and energy.

but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well: jobs all over america. thousands of people here in alaska are working to safely produce more energy. but that's just the start. to produce more from existing wells, we need advanced technology. that means hi-tech jobs in california and colorado. the oil moves through one of the world's largest pipelines. maintaining it means manufacturing jobs in the midwest. then we transport it with 4 state-of-the-art, double-hull tankers. some of the safest, most advanced ships in the world: built in san diego with a $1 billion investment. across the united states, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. and no energy company invests more in the u.s. than bp. when we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. that's not a coincidence. it's one more part of our commitment to america.

frequent heartburn? the choice is yours. chalky. not chalky. temporary. 24 hour. lots of tablets. one pill. you decide. prevacid. ♪ 24 hour new questions are being raised about the safety of many popular midsize suvs. an insurance industry group conducted tests on several models, and the results it found were alarming. alexis christoforous reports. >> reporter: the insurance institute for highway safety

crashed midsize suvs into a rigid barrier at 40 miles per hour to see which ones performed best in a frontal crash. of nine models, only the chevrolet equinox and the gmc terrain received the highest rating. the toyota highlander was rated acceptable. all three of those suvs performed well in front, rear, side and rollover crashes. they also came equipped with technology to help prevent or minimize frontal collisions. the tests showed what could happen if just a small portion of the vehicle crashes into another vehicle or object like a utility pole or tree. >> this kind of crash, a small overlap where just the corner of the front of your vehicle is involved accounted for about 25% of the remaining serious injuries in frontal crashes. >> reporter: the institute declared the honda pilot the worst performer. the mazda cx-9 and the kia sorrento also rated poorly.

the ford explorer, toyota 4runner and jeep cherokee received marginal ratings. researchers say the results show manufacturers what improvements they need to make. >> beef up the occupant compartment to make sure that it doesn't collapse when all this force comes back to it. >> reporter: despite ratings, the insurance institute for highway safety says suvs have gotten much safer over the past 20 years. alexis christoforous, cbs news. on the "cbs money watch," president obama's push for equal pay and a new upscale fast food spinoff for kfc. jill wagner is at the new york stock exchange with that and more. good morning, jill. >> reporter: good morning. asian markets were mixed after the bank of japan offered no new stimulus and a fall in tech stocks. tokyo's nikkei fell more than 1%. hong kong's hang seng added 1%. wall street investors will continue to focus on first quarter earnings results due this week after concerns about earnings and sales fueled declines.

the dow lost 166 points on monday. the nasdaq finished 47 points lower. president obama is expected to declare today national equal pay day. mr. obama will likely issue two executive orders to help combat pay discrimination against women. the first would prohibit some employers from retaliating against claims of unequal pay. the second would strengthen existing equal pay laws. the president is also pushing the house to support a bill to restore expired jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed. on monday, the senate passed legislation, but it faces stiff republican opposition in the house. starting today, microsoft will end its support of its popular windows xp. about 30% of computers around the world run on the 12-year-old program. microsoft says it wants to concentrate on maintaining its newer operating systems. and yum brands, parent company of kfc, is testing out a new restaurant that serves

chicken. it's called super chix. the menu is more upscale than kfc's. yum brands says it will open abroad and won't expand in the u.s. kfc remains second to chick-fil-a as the nation's largest chicken chain. anne-marie? >> if it's more upscale, can you still call it finger lickin' good chicken? i don't know if you can use your hands if it's upscale. jill wagner at the new york stock exchange, thanks a lot, jill. straight ahead, derek jeter's final home opener at yankee stadium. and 2 of the past 3 ncaa tournament winners square off in the final game. ncaa winners sca s square off in the game. hi. what did you do to deserve that thin mints flavor coffee-mate? it's only one of the most delicious girl scout cookie flavors ever. i changed the printer ink. try coffee-mate girl scout cookie flavors.

if it doesn't work fast... you're on to the next thing. clinically proven neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair. it targets fine lines and wrinkles with the fastest retinol formula available. you'll see younger looking skin in just one week. one week? this one's a keeper. rapid wrinkle repair. and for dark spots rapid tone repair. from neutrogena®. ♪ hey, that's the last crescent! and for dark spots rapid tooh, did you want it? yeah. we'll split it. [ female announcer ] made fresh, so light, buttery and flakey.

that's half. that's not half! guys, i have more. thanks, mom. [ female announcer ] do you have enough pillsbury crescents? here's a look at today's forecast in some cities around the country. in sports, after being banned from the ncaa tournament last year, the university of connecticut came back with a vengeance. the men's basketball final pitting seventh seeded uconn against eighth seeded kentucky. uconn senior leader shabazz napier helps his team build a 15-point lead in the first half. as kentucky gets within one in the second half, napier nails his fourth three-pointer of the game. kentucky would not get any closer. uconn finishes off the wildcats with some clutch foul shooting down the stretch to win, 60-54.

the huskies cut down the nets for the second time in four years and the fourth time since 1999. but it is the first time for head coach kevin ollie. >> it's unbelievable because those guys, my players stayed with the program. and i'm the first one to deflect all of the attention. those players that was up here, they should get all the attention. >> napier is named the tournament's most outstanding player thanks in large part to his 22-point performance in the championship game. husky fans partied in the rain on uconn's campus. thousands of students who watched the game in the school's arena poured out into the street to celebrate. they might be partying again tonight. the uconn women's basketball team is shooting for its ninth national championship. and here in new york, it was the final home opener for retiring yankees' star derek jeter. jeter was joined by longtime teammates andy pettitte, jorge posada and mariano rivera for

the ceremonial first pitch. and in the fifth inning, ele electrifies the bronx crowd when he hits a double off the left field wall. jeter would come around to score, and the yankees beat baltimore 4-2. the fierce weather across the southeast forced officials to cancel the practice round at the masters. fans and golfers had to leave th course as heavy rain and lightning poured down. it's the first time in 11 years bad weather canceled a practice round. a reminder now that the final two rounds of the masters can be seen right here on cbs. coverage begins at 3:00 p.m. eastern this saturday and sunday. when we return, flying high. a ranking of the best airlines in america. the industry hands in its best performance in years, but some passengers may disagree. sports sponsored by just for men mustache and beard. champions of facial hair. ♪

[ man ] yo buzz! drop that beat! remix! ♪ hey! must be the honey! ♪ ♪ clusters, flakes ♪ that medley crunch, crunch! go! ♪ ♪ you've got that medley crunch ♪ ♪ go get that medley crunch! all the goodness of milk, all the deliciousness of hershey's syrup.

blaze that prompted an evacuation. suspended state senator leld yee back in court this morning... the long list of charges he and dozens of defendants will face. and was it a prank or a political statement? the bie vandalism that has san frano police scratching their hea. join us for kpix 5 news this morning... beginning at 4:3 good morning. it's tuesday, april eighth i'm michelle griego. ,,,,

here's a look at today's forecast in some cities around the country. a new study offers a mixed picture of the quality of air travel in the nation. while service has improved, many passengers may also have adapted to what's best being described as the new normal. fred boswell reports. >> reporter: fewer passenger complaints helped u.s. airlines deliver their best performance in decades. >> this is the highest ever that the industry has been in terms of overall quality. >> reporter: the university researchers behind the annual airline quality rating put virgin america at the top of the list for the second year in a row. jetblue, hawaiian, delta and alaska airlines round out the top five.

carriers also bumped fewer passengers from flights. but there are still issues. on-time performance got worse last year, and more people arrived at their destination without their bags. >> i've taken ten flights this year and maybe been late seven of them. >> reporter: customer surveys show plenty of gripes about air travel, but researchers say passengers may be complaining less because they've lowered their expectations. >> people have maybe gotten to the point where they say i just don't care anymore. it's going to be what it is. >> reporter: united improved its standing in 2013, climbing out of last place and leaving express jet, sky west and american eagle at the bottom of the list. american eagle along with southwest both showed an across-the-board decline in performance compared to the year before. craig boswell for cbs news, reagan national airport. coming up after your local news on "cbs this morning," an update on the deadly storms in the southwest. i'm anne-marie green. this is the "cbs morning news."

jia these little angels build in softness. and these little angels build in strength. and that little angel says, "weeeeeeeee!" 60% more sheets than charmin. everything you want and the value you love. angel soft. we did a 27-point inspection on your chevy,ce, you got new tires and our price match guarantee. who's this little guy? that's birney. oh, i bet that cone gives him supersonic hearing. watch what you say around him. i've been talking a lot about his procedure... (whispering) what? get our everyday price match guarantee plus a $100 rebate on 4 select tires from your tire experts. chevy certified service. hi. what did you do thin mints flavor coffee-mate? it's only one of the most delicious girl scout cookie

flavors ever. i changed the printer ink. try coffee-mate girl scout cookie flavors.

investigators are trying to determine why several shelves suddenly collapsed in a new york city discount store monday. customers and store workers were buried under piles of merchandise. eight people were injured. seven of them seriously. there was no structural damage to the building, though. the u.s. navy has unveiled a futuristic weapon that could change the way we wage modern warfare. it's called the electromagnetic rail gun, and it will be tested at sea in two years. david martin got a first look. >> reporter: the phrase faster than a speeding bullet just took on a whole new meaning. >> fire. >> an electromagnetic rail gun is a gun that uses just electricity, no gunpowder and oh, by the way, can shoot a projectile like this well over

100 miles at mach 7. >> reporter: seven times the speed of sound. >> seven times the speed of sound. >> reporter: rear admiral matthew klunder is the chief of naval research which developed the gun. that chunky object is the project tile. an electromagnetic pulse propels it down the barrel, creating a fireball of molten steel. the projectile sheds its steel cladding, and in video released for the first time today, it smashes into a dummy warhead that represents an incoming missile. the explosion is caused by the sheer force of the impact. >> this is a lab gun. and it shoots a slug about this big. so think about that. a slug that big. a slug that big going mach 7 puts a hole through six half-inch steel plates this big. >> reporter: went through all of these. >> all six of those. there's not a thing in the sky that's going to survive against that. >> reporter: in this shot, what's officially called the hyper-velocity projectile goes through three reinforced concrete walls. the navy already has missiles

that perform the same feats, but they cost millions of dollars each. >> this costs right here about $25,000. >> reporter: both cost and size, it weighs 23 pounds, means they can be bought and stored aboard ship by the hundreds. >> someone may be sending a multimillion-dollar missile at us, and i'm going to take it out with a $25,000 projectile round, i'll take that trade every single day. >> reporter: but not so fast. the first rail gun won't go to sea until 2016, and then only aboard a cargo vessel for testing. it will be the end of the decade before the rail gun appears on warships. david martin, cbs news at the naval research laboratory. coming up after your local news on "cbs this morning," an update on the deadly storms in the southeast, and we'll get the forecast. plus the fight against fracking. we'll meet some pennsylvania homeowners battling big oil companies in their backyard. and a victim of the boston bombing attack shares her unique

video diary of her recovery so far from her injuries. that's the "cbs morning news" for this tuesday. thanks for watching. i'm anne-marie green. have a great day. ,,,,

your realtime captioner is linda macdonald. good morning, everyone. it's tuesday, april 8. i'm michelle griego. >> hi, everyone. i'm frank mallicoat. hi, everyone. nearly 4:30 on your tuesday. we have the giants home opener.

beautiful day, lawrence. >> yes. good news/bad news. today as good as it's going to get. you know what that means? >> going downhill tomorrow? [ laughter ] >> looking nice today. patchy fog along the coastline. a few high clouds but that giants game, hey, that should be something else. we'll talk about that coming up. >> good morning, everyone. here's a live look at some of our sensors in the east bay and through hercules, you will find lanes blocked all along 80, 4 in willow. if you are heading to the bay bridge toll plaza, things look quiet. so we'll break down your morning commute coming up. >> thank you. it took hours for san jose firefighters to stop the flames that burned three homes. kpix 5 reporter betty yu says a gas meter came between the fire crews and the fire near westgate mall. >> reporter: all they could do was watch as firefighters put out hot spots hours after a three-alarm fire gutted this home torched the cars out front and quickly sp