>> axelrod: tonight, crunch time for the clippers. with the organization in disarray, the team gets ready for a do-or-die play-off game. bigad shaban reports on what the team owner's girlfriend had to say in her first interview. >> is donald sterling a racist? >> no. >> axelrod: a huge mudslide sweeps through a remote afghan village. kelly cobiella reports hundreds may be dead while rescuers dig frantically. the eye in the sky-- private drones see storm damage from above. mark strassmann tells us they soon may be predicting storms as well. and a white house trailblazer. mark albert remembers the first african american reporter ever to attend a presidential news conference. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news."

>> axelrod: good evening. i'm jim axelrod. this is our western edition. we begin tonight with the turmoil surrounding the los angeles clippers and their owner, donald sterling. it has been an extraordinary week since racist comments about african americans made by steriling to his girlfriend first came to light. players, coaches, league legends, and the other owners have been in near lockstep, supporting the decision of n.b.a. commissioner adam silver to ban sterling for life. tonight, the clippers have a do- or-die game seven in their first-round play-off series. while sterling has stayed out of the public eye as bigad shaban reports, his girlfriend has been doing plenty of talking. >> reporter: in an interview with barbara walters of abc news, v. stiviano denied having a romantic relationship with donald sterling and says he's not a racist. >> i think that the things he says are not what he feels. anyone can say anything in the heat of the moment. >> do you think he should

apologize? >> absolutely. y do you think he will apologize? >> only god knows. >> reporter: walters said sterling had also agreed to be interviewed but backed out. stiviano says there are several more hours of recorded conversation. as early as this month, the n.b.a. board of directors could vote to oust sterling. but he may not go quietly. ken berger is with cbssports.com. >> he has some time to try to kind of stall that process, maybe seek a federal injunction, get a court to step in. courts are very reluctant to do that, however, with a private association, as long as the commissioner and the owners have followed their own rules. >> reporter: most who responded to a cbs news/"new york times" poll believes sterling should be forced to sell the l.a. clippers. that sentiment was overwhelming among blacks in the survey, with 71% saying he should be forced out. it's been just one week since this scandal broke, a week that's seen moments both disturbing and dramatic.

>> he got the shot off! >> it's unprecedented how good these play-offs have been, how close the games have been. this was causing a distraction, and much worse than a distraction. it was hanging over the players. >> reporter: now, if the clippers lose tonight, their season is over. but, jim, several players, as well as coach doc rivers, say they may have some tough decisions to make whether to stay if donald sterling manages to keep control of the team. >> axelrod: thank you. we turn next to the horrendous story of a mudslide in afghanistan that has buried most of a village in the northeastern part of the country. hundreds are known to be dead with many more missing and feared dead. as kelly cobiella reports, time is running out on rescuers who are digging with only the simplest of shovels. >> reporter: volunteers dug all day today with little hope of finding anyone alive. this man saw the mudslide happen. he said villagers rushed to help, then a second wall of mud came down, burying even more people.

zia ulhaq survived. he said, "my family, including my child and all of my belongings, are buried here." "we lost everything" this woman said. "our house is completely destroyed, and we don't have corporate to live." the mud is more than 30 feet deep in places, too deep for shovels. help is slow in coming because a week of heavy rain damaged the roads. the afghan military managed to fly in only one excavator and some food and water. more than 4,000 either lost their homes or left them, fearing more mudslides. a lucky few are in tents. the rest are stuck on the hills in near-freezing temperatures. jaan mohammad said he was pulled from the mud and is now worried floods will wash away the rest of the village. and there's another danger, that this massive piece of the mountain could slip again.

searchers say they may have to stop digging and mark this site as a mass grave. aid workers have set up a makeshift hospital and president obama has offered troops and equipment to help, but the afghan government hasn't asked. jim. >> axelrod: kelly cobiella reporting from our london newsroom, kelly, thank you. now to eastern ukraine where today pro-russian forces released the military observers they had been holding captive. this comes as russia accuses of united states for being partially responsible for the violence in ukraine. clarissa ward is there. >> reporter: after more than a week, the seven european observers were finally free to leave the city of slavyansk, where they had been held captive by pro-russian separatists. we caught up with them as they were leaving for the airport, though they were unwilling to discuss their ordeal. sir, how were you treated in captivity? were you mistreated at all? >> no. >> reporter: you were not? >> no mistreatment. >> reporter: no mistreatment. the release came as the ukrainian military continued an

offensive to take back towns in the east that have fallen under the control of pro-russian rebels, but the violence has now spread to other parts of the country. in the southern port of odessa yesterday, clashes between pro- ukrainian and pro-russian factions left more than 40 people dead. most of the casualties came after a building, where pro- russian activists were hunkered down, caught fire, reportedly because of molotov cocktails thrown inside. today, the usually bustling seaside resort was a city in mourning. most ukrainians are shocked by the violence that has gripped their country and fear that it may be spiraling out of control. a spokesman for russian president vladimir putin blamed the violence in odessa on the west and on the government in ukraine and, jim, he said that it would be "absurd to go ahead with presidential elections" which are currently scheduled for later this month.

>> axelrod: clarissa ward reporting for us tonight from donetsk in eastern ukraine. thank you. some news now about the next race for the white house. democratic senator tim kaine from the swing state of virginia endorsed hillary clinton for president today, and she hasn't even declared if she's running. kaine told cbs news he made his decision on his own without consulting the clinton camp. >> look, this is going to be a hard race. it's hard for anybody doing this, but that's another reason why i decided to get out early. i think she's the best person for the job. >> axelrod: sources close to kaine say he has not spoken to either hillary or bill clinton for quite some time. we have a new study to tell you about that reports an alarming increase in diabetes among children. using data from more than three million children, researchers found type 1 diabetes up more than 21% over eight years. the rate of type 2 diabetes was up even more dramatically, 30% among children between the ages of 10 and 19.

a number of high-ranking catholic clergy are recommending to pope francis some changes in vatican law. boston's cardinal sean o'malley is a member of the vatican commission on sexual abuse. he told reporters today current church law on abuse are inadequate and that clergy who fail to protect children from abusive priests should be held accountable, regardless of rank. funeral services were held today for jeremiah oliver, the young massachusetts boy whose violent death triggered a shake-up in the state agency charged with protecting at-risk children. michelle miller has the story of jeremiah's short life and its aftermath. >> reporter: jeremiah oliver's family said good-bye to the boy who dreamed of one day becoming a police officer, still questioning how the system failed him. >> reporter: the five-year-old's body was found two weeks ago

alongside a highway near boston, wrapped in cloth and stuffed inside a suitcase. autopsy results are not yet in, but authorities have charged jeremiah's mother and her boyfriend in connection with his disappearance. though no one has seen jeremiah since last september, he wasn't reported missing until december when his sister told school officials he disappeared after there had been abuse in the home. the massachusetts department of children and families had been monitoring the family, but an investigation found the assigned social worker had skipped mandatory monthly visits since last april. the worker and two supervisors were fired, and the cases sparked investigations into systemic problems within the agency. problems other caseworkers, like 16-year veteran christian king, have protested long before. >> we're not able to put enough people in place to see all the children that are necessary. we don't have the resources. >> reporter: the state

legislature agreed to boost funding for the department to hire more staff, ease caseloads, and upgrade mobile technology so field reports could be filed faster. last month, the head of the department resigned under pressure following the death of two more children. among the 36,000 now monitored by the agency. >> it's very important that it doesn't take another child tragedy to bring attention to something that social workers have been fighting for, for 30 years. >> reporter: jeremiah's family hopes his death won't be in vain. michelle miller, cbs news, new york. >> axelrod: general motors has issued a recall for more than 50,000 of its s.u.v.s. the company says the fuel gauges in some of its 2014 buick enclaves, chevy traverses, and g.m.c. acadia trucks may be faulty, leading them to run out of gas and possibly stall unexpectedly. the c.e.o. of general motors, mary barra, used her company's recent problems to make a point to graduates today during a commencement speak at the university of michigan.

>> in my experience, it's much better to get the right people in a room, make a plan, and address that challenge. and remember, hope is not a strategy. problems don't go away when you ignore them. they tend to get bigger. >> axelrod: there had been some objection to her appearance over g.m.'s recent handling of safety issues with its cars. rutgers university needs to find a new commencement speaker. condoleezza rice was supposed to do the honors later this month, but today, the former secretary of state announced she was backing out. some students and faculty at rutgers had staged a protest because of her role in the iraq war. rice says she doesn't want to distract from what should be a joyous occasion. later, yet another use for drones in the sky. checking out storm damage on the ground. and down from the mountain top with a whole lot of lessons. what this woman is telling big business and the military about

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severe weather tore through the the south this week, drones were in the sky. equipped with cameras, they captured powerful images of the devastation, but as mark strassmann reports, the f.a.a. has concerns, especially when such devices are deployed over a disaster zone. >> reporter: a search for tornado survivors in arkansas. flash flooding in a florida neighborhood. and a highway sinkhole opened by torrential rains. all these images were capture bide remote-controlled flying storm chasers, like this. >> i'm able to get to a pretty good distance with this. >> reporter: maintenance worker john peters is a backyard

drone enthusiast. his phantom drone with its mounted camera became key to a search operation wall street near pensacola. its video reassured first responders no one was trapped inside this sifng hole. >> there's some things you can't see when you're on the ground, and when you get in the air, it's a whole different perspective. >> reporter: drone enthusiasts have to follow a couple of rules. they have to maintain a 400-foot ceiling for the drone and they also cannot sell the video for commercial purposes. but the f.a.a. has privacy concerns and safety concerns and is expected to issue more regulations by the end of the year. >> we're still in a little bit of a gray area. >> reporter: dr. jamey jacob is ray professor of aerospace engineering at oklahoma state university. >> the technology is essentially outpacing the regulations right now, and it is taking some time for the regulations to catch up. >> reporter: this week, the f.a.a. find a new york man for recklessly flying and crashing his drone in manhattan last september, and the agency's investigating an arkansas

television station for using a drone as part of its news coverage of a tornado this week. using drones for commercial purposes is currently banned, but for research purposes, it's allowed. dr. jacob's students are now designing drone to fly into storm cells and help predict tornadoes. >> this week just illustrates how important the need is for us to use unmanned technology in severe weather applications. these unmanned aircraft are really one of the perfect solutions to get this data. >> reporter: the f.a.a. is now testing drones in six states to determine its new regulations. when it comes to the drone's potential uses, enthusiasts like john peters believe the sky is the limit. mark strassmann, cbs news, pensacola, florida. >> axelrod: how about the james family of keansburg, new jersey, who thought they were going to the animal shelter to get a new dog. instead they got a reunion. they'd lost this pit bull-terrier mix in the aftermath of super storm sandy. but it turns out for the last

year-plus, he had been living in a nearby shelter. his name is reckless. they recognized a distinctive scar on his head and now they're all back together again. up next, honoring a reporter who didn't just break stories but broke barriers. when you sat down to dinner with anticipation, not hesitation. when you didn't dread bedtime because of heartburn. when damage to your esophagus caused by acid reflux disease wasn't always on your mind. that's when you knew nexium was the prescription medication for you. because for over a decade nexium has provided many just like you with 24-hour relief from heartburn and helped heal acid-related erosions in the lining of the esophagus. and now the prescription nexium you know can be delivered directly to your door with nexium direct. talk to your doctor to see if nexium is right for you. there is risk of bone fracture and low magnesium levels. side effects may include headache, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. if you have persistent diarrhea,

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celebrating 100 years of covering america's presidents. the memory of one reporter is being honored tonight, celebrated for the pioneering work this african-american did in the face of bigotry. here's mark albert. >> reporter: he was diminutive and polite, but alarmed white correspondents who covered the president in the 1940s. newspaper reporter harry mcalpin had asked for a membership to the white house correspondents' association. the board said no. in 1944, at the height of world war ii, the national negro publisher's association urged president franklin roosevelt to overrule the board and grant mcalpin credentials. the president did. before his first news conference, the association again tried to stop him warning the room would be so crowded with him in it, he might cause a riot. mcalpin calmly replied, that would be a hell of a news story, and i want to be there for that." when mcalpin shook roosevelt's

hand after being the first african american reporter to attend a presidential news conference, the president said, "i'm glad to see you, mcalpin, and very happy to have you here." mcalpin reflected on the adversity in his life on an edward r murrow radio program a decade later. >> it takes a great deal of patience to accept the customs of some sections and communities, trying to live up to my beliefs often has subjected me to both praiseand criticism. how wise i have been in my choicessa may be known only to god. >> reporter: it's taken 70 years for the correspondents' association to apologize. at its annual dinner this weekend, it's announcing a scholarship in mcalpin's honor. his son will be there at a dinner his father was never invited to attend. mark albert, cbs news, washington. >> axelrod: the actor efrem zimbalist jr. has died. from 1965-1974 he was the star of "the f.b.i."

the sandsome steady face of law enforcement on tv during some turbulent times in real life. zim blift also starred in the hollywood crime drama "77 sunset strip," and costarred with audrey hepburn in the film "wait until dark." efrem zimbalist jr. was 95 years old. still ahead, peak performance. how this world-class climber helps leaders get the most from their troops. one of our favorite things to do is going to the dog park together. sometimes my copd makes it hard to breathe. so my doctor prescribed symbicort. it helps significantly improve my lung function starting within five minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. with symbicort, today i'm breathing better. come on, boy! [ female announcer ] symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort contains formoterol. medicines like formoterol increase the risk of death from asthma problems.

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favorite, was the winner. the horse had been run be at odds of 5-2. we close with the introduction of an extraordinary woman we'll get to know more in depth next week. alison levine is one of only a few dozen people ever to climb the highest mountain on all seven continents and ski to the north and south poles. as we'll hear from her on "60 minutes sports" it was only after an unsuccessful attempt to get to the top of mount everest that her career took off. she spent two months climbing five miles up everest before bad weather forced her to turn around just 100 yards from the top. >> i was a different person when i came back from the mountain. i feel like it really did change me. and i started looking at

uncontrollable factors in a different way. i looked at managing risk in a different way. i lookeddality team work in a different way. called aclimbtization-- >> axelrod: she began to compile the compelling lessons of her and i havedition, quickly finding an od audience. >> trust me when i tell you turning around and walk away from the deal is harder than continuing on. but when you're up there in these mountains you have to be able to make very tough decisions when the conditions around are far from perfect. >> jim: she was soon in high demand as a public speaker, on the road for 250 days a year, spreading her principles of effective leadership, formed in extreme environments. >> the key to surviving this is that you have to be able to take action based on the situation at the time. and not based on some plan.

plans are outdated as soon as they're finished when you're in environments that change very rapidly. >> axelrod: the controlling principle here is you can't control what life gives you. >> right. >> axelrod: only how you respond to it. >> right. you adapt and you keep going. >> axelrod: alison levine and lessons she brought down from the mountain this coming wednesday night on 60 minute sports seen on showtime. and that is 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 media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

the chain of events that le a fatal crash. the teen who stowed aw a bay area freeway shut down for hours. the chain of events that led to a fatal crash. >> the teen who stowed away on a flight to hawaii has returned to the bay area but he is not back with his family. >> thousands turned away without being interviewed. why the job fair at tesla had to be shut down. >> kpix 5 news is next. ,,,,,,

slamming into the center di on a bay area freeway. the series of events that led to the close of all eastbound lanes. good evening, i'm ann an suv on its roof after slamming into the center divide on the bay area freeway. the series of events that led to the closure of all eastbound lanes. good evening, i'm ann notarangelo. >> i'm brian hackney. brian webb is live where the freeway just reopened. >> reporter: all