d.c. starts to dig out. and the southeast gets slammed by snow, ice and wind in the latest storm of what's become a relentless winter. a fiery wreckage in west virginia. a train carrying more than 100 tanks of crude oil goes off the tracks and explodes, prompting hundreds of families to evacuate. a series of collisions in a supermarket parking lot are caught on camera. what police are saying about the driver who slammed into nearly a dozen vehicles. ♪ and let the party begin. colorful mardi gras celebrations kick off as fat tuesday arrives. this is the "cbs morning news" for tuesday, february 17th, 2015.

good morning, i'm alison harmelin in for anne-marie green. this morning a dangerous, unusual winter storm is hitting the south with snow, ice and freezing rain. states of emergency have been declared in kentucky, georgia, mississippi, virginia and north carolina. the storm is affecting travel and tens of thousands of customers have already lost power. in north carolina, nearly 100 counties are under a weather alert. a thick blanket of ice is expected in the middle of the state, and residents are being told to stay off the roads. in tennessee, freezing rain gripped power lines and snapped tree branches. officials warn the threat of significant power outages exist due to the ice. the storm is headed to the northeast after it leaves the mid-atlantic, and that means even more snow for boston where the city has hired extra workers to try to get mass transit running at full length. and following the storm, more bitter cold. this building in philadelphia turned into an ice castle as firefighters battled a fire yesterday.

50 million americans were under windchill advisories as dramatic cold set or tied a series of records. susan mcginnis is in washington where up to eight inches of snow is forecast. susan, good morning. >> reporter: hi, alison, good morning. it has been snowing here steadily for about 14 hours now with some bursts of very heavy snow. it's also very, very cold. and what that means is every flake sticks, and it also means that the treatment of the roads is much less effective. the government is closed. that is thankfully keeping tens of thousands of commuters off the roads in this area. the story is the same or worse across much of the south. many states getting their first real bite of winter. the latest winter storm is slamming the south with snow, sleet and freezing rain making driving difficult and dangerous. >> i just saw a sheet of ice lift up off the roof of the truck, and i saw it come flipping at us. >> reporter: sara vazquez and her daughters escaped injury, despite having a huge chunk of ice crash through their rental

car on i-65 near the tennessee/alabama state line. the slick road conditions have many in the south getting a crash course in winter driving. >> take it very slowly. no matter how many suvs go flying by you, which they usually end up in the ditch anyway. >> reporter: tens of thousands are without electricity in several southern states. parts of kentucky are expecting up to 15 inches of snow. it's also a snow day here in washington where federal offices are closed, and employees have been told to stay home. people in the d.c. metro area wasted no time emptying store shelves of the essentials. >> the crowd was crowded. the line was probably from here to -- whew -- to that second pole over there waiting in line to pay for it. >> reporter: air force one landed as the snow started falling monday night at joint base andrews. it brought the president back to a wintry scene after a warm weekend in california. in the northeast, bitterly cold temperatures with double-digit subzero windchills have taken hold. the cold is expected to extend

as far south as northern florida by thursday. two deaths are being blamed on icy roads in tennessee and kansas. also about 35,000 people are said to be without power in arkansas, kentucky and tennessee. flight cancellations are piling up. alison, anyone in the south who's been looking up at boston and elsewhere in new england thinking they were going to squeak by without any suffering, sadly mistaken. >> dangerous cold. susan mcginnis in washington, stay warm, susan. thank you. an example of the extreme cold, it hit three degrees in new york city, cold enough to freeze parts of the hudson river, breaking the previous record of nine degrees set 12 years ago. meteorologist eric fisher of our boston station wbz is tracking this morning's weathermaker. >> we've been watching this really potent storm move across the mid-south. impressive snow totals and a lot of ice. that icing for the morning hours across north carolina. the snow stretching up toward long island and new york city. limited amounts of snowfall there.

you notice the brunt of the storm slides off to the south. but it will bring additional snowfall across southern new england, a place that's been shattering snowfall records. storm totals, you can see the biggest bull's-eye across virginia and west virginia. significant snow in d.c. haven't seen much in the last couple years. finally snow to deal with this morning. and we could see a few inches in the city of boston where we've already seen the snowiest february ever recorded. behind it it's all about the coldest week. middle of the country, all of the east, even down to florida seeing well below-average temperatures. as we head toward wednesday, thursday and friday, single-digit highs around the twin cities and chicago. st. louis staying in the teens. that cold air into the northeast, but also for a change down to the southeast. look at these highs. jacksonville may not get out of the 30s on thursday. 20s in atlanta. and teens into d.c. for thursday and perhaps friday as well. i'm meteorologist eric fisher for cbs news. a federal judge in south texas temporarily blocked president obama's policy on immigration. 26 states opposing the order filed a lawsuit. the decision puts on hold an

order protecting millions of immigrants here illegally from deportation. part of the program protecting those who were brought to the u.s. illegally as children was set to take effect tomorrow. in west virginia, a massive train derailment has forced hundreds of families from their homes this morning. the train with more than 100 tankers of crude oil jumped the tracks monday and burst into flames in boomer in the southern part of the state. bryan hughes of our charleston affiliate of woko-tv shows us the dramatic accident. >> reporter: a line of flames lights up the night sky along the canal river in boomer, west virginia. fueling the fire, thousands of gallons of crude oil spilled during a partial derailment of the train about a mile long. the csx train carrying more than 100 tankers skipped the tracks and exploded about 1:30 in the afternoon. >> that is hard to believe. wow! you feel that heat? >> reporter: officials say more than a dozen tanker cars caught fire, incinerating a nearby house. >> when it blew up, the flames were higher than the top of the mountain.

and i could feel the heat on my face. >> reporter: initially csx had a hard time identifying how many cars were involved. they had to use our camera and our lens to be able to identify which cars were involved in the derailment. oil is also spilling into the canal river. residents were told to evacuate as emergency response and environmental officials assess the damage. a nearby water treatment plant which serves about 2,000 customers has been shut down. so far no word on what caused the derailment. in boomer west virginia, bryan hughes for cbs news. jurors at the american sniper murder trial saw and heard a videotaped confession by accused gunman eddie routh monday. in the recording, the former marine can be seen handcuffed in an interrogation room after the killings in 2013. he admits to a texas ranger that he shot navy s.e.a.l. chris kyle and another man. routh also says he's sorry for what he's done. his defense team argues he was insane at the time. important new research on women's health this morning. a study finds hot flashes which afflict up to 80% of middle-aged

women is far longer than previously thought. on average the symptoms will stretch more than seven years. for some women they can last as long as 14 years. and there are big differences in ethnicities. african-american women have the longest duration and japanese women the shortest. researchers say the reasons are unclear. coming up on the "morning news," space race. competition to be the first humans to set foot on the red planet. and getting fired up for fat tuesday. we'll take you to new orleans for a colorful mardi gras tradition. this is the "cbs morning news." tradition. this is the "cbs morning news." now chicken smoked in-house, and no more waiting for the check. new smoked chicken quesadillas on chili's lunch combo menu, starting at 6 bucks. fresh is happening now. americans... 57% of us try to exercise regularly. 83% try to eat healthy. yet up to 90% of us fall short in getting key nutrients from food alone. let's do more, together.

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1963. gore who didn't smoke died of lung cancer in new york. she was 68 years old. amateur astronomers have stumbled upon a martian mystery. the stargazers recently spotted huge plumes erupting from mars. they've since died away. the bright flares reach up to 150 miles in altitude. that's more than twice as high as the highest martian clouds. and they sprawled 300 to 600 miles across. so far scientists have no explanation. on the cbs moneywatch," speaking of mars, there's a competition for a one-way ticket to the red planet. and one city has had enough of winter. jill wagner is at the new york stock exchange with that and more. good morning, jill. >> reporter: good morning, alison. greece's debt talks broke down in brussels. greece's creditors want athens to extend the current bailout program which ends february 28th. if there's no deal, greece could default on its loans and end up leaving the euro currency. in return for the european rescue money, greece has to implement highly unpopular austerity measures. asian financial markets were mixed on worries about greece.

tokyo's nikkei shed a fraction. hong kong's hang seng added 0.25%. u.s. markets were closed monday because of the presidents day holiday. trading today begins following positive movement last week. the dow gained nearly 47 points on friday. the s&p added 8. and the nasdaq finished 36 points higher. secretary of labor tom perez is headed to california where he'll try to resolve the costly west coast dock workers contract dispute. negotiations between workers and dock operators have broken down. 29 ports from southern california to seattle are affected. there have been lockouts and work slowdowns which means billions of dollars in cargo are in limbo. the 100 final candidates for a one-way trip to mars have been chosen. the private dutch-based mars 1 project plans to set up a human settlement on mars by 2024. more than 200,000 people applied

for the project to colonize the red planet. m.i.t. researchers estimate a crew would die within 68 days. and the ithaca, new york visitors bureau has thrown in the towel. its website's message to visitors "don't come here, go to florida." brutal below-freezing temps forced the issue in central new york city. the website says due to this ridiculously stupid winter, it invites you to visit the florida keys. please come back when we thaw out. alison? >> i'm feeling a little sorry for ithaca. we'll go visit in the spring. >> reporter: definitely. i'll pass right now. >> right now i pass, too. jill wagner at the new york stock exchange, jill, thank you. still to come, the latest loss for lance armstrong and the winners from the first night of the westminster kennel club dog show and the connection one of them has to an infamous heiress. them has to an infamous heiress.

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m'm! good.® here's a look at today's forecast in some cities around the country. first lance armstrong lost his seven tour de france titles. now he's losing some of the millions he was paid for winning those races.

armstrong's being ordered to pay $10 million back to promotions company. the company sued armstrong after his use of performance enhancing drugs was uncovered by the u.s. anti-doping agency. armstrong later confessed to using peds in an interview with oprah winfrey. armstrong's lawyer says he expects the decision to be overturned. an ugly moment in college basketball last night. sixth ranked villanova in control of seton hall. and in the second half seton hall's sterling gibbs gets ejected when he gives a forearm shot to the head of a villanova player. he later apologized on twitter. villanova walks away with the easy win, 80-54. and a dramatic finish between number 23 west virginia and eighth ranked kansas. the jayhawks leading by one point in the game's final seconds, but west virginia has the ball. >> and they put it in staten's hands. clock winding down. staten attacks, left hand, yes! yes! past ellis on the rim, lay it

up no! no! west virginia upsets the jayhawks! >> juwan staten's last-second layup gives the mountaineers a 62-61 win. and the first night of the 139th annual westminster kennel club dog show is in the books. four dogs advance to the best in show category which will be decided tonight. miss p. a 15-inch beagle was picked to represent the hound group. flame, a standard pool in the nonsporting group. an old english sheepdog swagger lived up to his name in the herding group. and rocket the shih tzu was chosen as the best in the toy group. rocket's co-owner is the infamous patty hearst. she was kidnapped by a radical group and later participated in a bank robbery. hearst had her prison since commuted by president jimmy carter and received a full pardon from bill clinton. when we return, dangerous driving caught on tape. a minivan loses control in a supermarket parking lot, smashing into other vehicles. o other vehicles. always disperse mcnuggets using alphabetical

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that exploded in west virginia... was carrying the same kind of dangerous crude that's coming here. the stalemate at the west coast ports is so bad.. the white house is getting involved. how the secretary of labor is hoping to jump start negotiations. a bay area police department under fire.. because of what happened with a prostitute in reno. and some people told us: the alleged coverup... is worse than the crime. join us for kpix 5 news this

here's a look at today's forecast in some cities around the country. police say an elderly wisconsin man won't be charged after smashing into almost a dozen vehicles in a supermarket parking lot. a surveillance camera captured the mayhem at the piggly wiggly friday. the chrysler minivan backs up, then accelerates into several parked cars. then the 92-year-old driver hits reverse, smashing into an suv. he then speeds away, crashing into another car, ripping off the front end. the dmv plans to talk to the man. the "50 shades of grey" valentine's weekend debut was a record breaker. over four days the erotic movie took in $94.4 million in domestic ticket sales. that breaks the box office record for february,

female filmmaker and "r" rated movies. 68% of the audience was women, and 42% under the age of 25. cold weather isn't dampening mardi gras celebrations in new orleans. the parade of orpheus kicked off the big easy celebration monday. megan alexander shows us another part of the local culture that dates back more than 100 years. >> reporter: noted jazz saxophonist donald harrison is the big chief of congo nation. he spends about a year creating his elaborate suit for mardi gras. >> it's a spiritual revelation that you go through when you put it on. >> reporter: congo nation is one of about three dozen tribes known collectively as the mardi gras indians who parade in their own neighborhoods on the big day. how much does this suit weigh? >> this one probably weighs about 70 pounds. >> reporter: the origins of the mardi gras indians go back to the 1700s when slaves would gather in new orleans congo square to play traditional african music. they started masquerading as native americans in part to

honor native tribes who sheltered and protected escaped slaves. >> masked as indians because once again, because we couldn't express our own afro-centric culture, we hid behind that mask. >> reporter: behind me is a rehearsal of the mardi gras indian tribe as they prepare for mardi gras day. what you're seeing would normally be off limits to the general public. tyrone casby has been big chief of the mohawk hunters since 1980. he says it's all about family, community and culture. >> it takes a lot of love to do what we do. >> reporter: and they plan to continue doing it for generations to come. megan alexander for cbs news, new orleans. ♪ tens of thousands of revelers are taking over the streets of rio de janeiro for brazil's carnivale week. the sergeant pepper street party mixes beatles hits with samba rhythms.

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here's another look at this morning's top stories. a major winter storm is blasting through the south into the mid-atlantic. a dangerous mix of snow and ice is making for treacherous travel and knocking power out. states of emergency have been declared in north carolina, virginia, mississippi, georgia and kentucky. federal offices in washington are closed today. and a freight train pulling more than 100 cars of oil derailed in southern west virginia. at least 14 tankers exploded or caught fire. one ended up in a river. part of a train hit a house. hundreds of families were evacuated, and a water treatment plant was shut down, but no serious injuries are reported. here in new york, a man is a caretaker of a collection of political memorabilia that could fill a museum. as bill plante shows us, there's an effort to catalog and bring the items to the public.

>> reporter: this may be the world's largest private collection of presidential memorabilia. more than 1 million items. but most of it is buried in boxes and locked away. >> it really keeps me up at night, thinking that my dad's legacy and passion is sitting in a storage unit. >> reporter: austin wright grew up in a home filled with political paraphernalia from the 1700s to the 2000s. amassed over 40 years by his late father, jordan. >> it was throughout wall to ceiling. everything you can think of. >> reporter: jordan wright was a passionate collector. he found this flag from george washington's inaugural in a times square mom-and-pop junk shop. >> the husband and wife would yell at each other, "where is the political memorabilia?" and the husband yelled back, "it's in the basement!" >> reporter: part of the collection was once displayed in new york. buttons, hats, lanterns, umbrellas and posters from the campaigns of george washington to george w. bush.

here's william mckinley. engraved on the back, it says "william mckinley, our hero for prosperity." >> that's right. >> reporter: william jennings bryan, the democrats' candidate in 1896, was a renowned orator, but the republicans' response -- >> they would pass out these coffins with a face in it. and it said "talk to death." and they'd say, this is what's going to happen if he is our president. >> reporter: so what now? where do you go next with this? >> we hope that by curating it, we can figure out exactly what's in it. the problem with my dad amassing this collection and not sharing exactly what was in it, the knowledge was in his head. >> reporter: wright talked to the smithsonian institution, but they were interested in only a small part of the collection, and he doesn't want to break it up. so you do want to get it displayed? >> i have to get it displayed. >> reporter: how? >> we are going to do exhibitions, and we are going to have it travel, and hopefully

the goal would be to get it digitally archived. >> reporter: honoring his father's legacy by making the silly and serious of american politics available to all. bill plante, cbs news, new york. coming up after your local news on "cbs this morning," the controversy over a foolproof way drivers can dodge dui checkpoints. jan crawford has the details. and actor matthew perry joins us to talk about his cbs comedy "the odd couple." that's the "cbs morning news" for this tuesday. i'm alison harmelin. have a great day. tuesday. i'm alison harmelin. have a great day.

and i'm frank mallicoat good morning everyone, it's tuesday, february 17th. i'm michelle griego. >> it's a fat tuesday. >> a fat tuesday?

>> for mardi gras. there we go, hi everyone, i'm frank mallicoat. nearly 4:30 on this fat tuesday and we'll kick it off with little traffic and weather. good morning. >> good morning everyone. did you notice the difference this morning in compared to yesterday? >> a little cooler. >> widespread fog. from the coast all the way into our inland areas. and right now, temperatures are pretty much in the 50s across the board. santa rosa just dipped to 49 degrees. otherwise because of the low clouds, and because of the fog, struggling to get out of the 60s at the beaches today. otherwise up to 70 in the warmest spots inland. that full forecast is straight ahead. now out the door we're for the most part clear but this accident is almost wrapped up. still may be some activity on the shoulder, northbound 101 before holly. watching it in san carlos and yeah i had fog coming in this morning parts of contra costa county really socked in. so be -- mindful of that as well on the roads. >> take her slow. thank you. and an explosive fire continues to burn in west virginia. fueled by crude oil spilled in a train