anyone. in his opening statement, assistant u.s. attorney jay richardson said roof's attack was cold and calculated. a racist retribution for perceived offenses against the white race. in june of 2015, roof visited a wednesday night bible study at mother emmanuel church. it became a slaughter of the innocents. survivor felicia sandered testified her wounded 26-year-old son, said to roof, why are you doing this? we mean you no harm. roof shot him five more times. his mother watched him die. among those sobbing in the courtroom, was sharon rischer. >> his eyes says evil to me. >> her mother, 70-year-old ethel

lance was among those murdered. >> who goes into a church and do that? >> reporter: it is unthinkable. >> i can't put that in words. the depth of the pain in my soul. >> reporter: relatives of the victims told roof at his arraignment they forgave him. >> we have no room for hate, so we have to forgive. >> reporter: are you one of those people? >> no, i am not one of those people. >> reporter: will you ever get to that point? >> i know i will. i have to. >> reporter: prosecutors will push for the death penalty. you don't want that. >> only because -- i don't believe in the death penalty for any person. >> reporter: if he gets the death penalty there is a part of you that thinks he got what is coming to him? >> yes, it's conflicting. >> reporter: roof's lawyers do not contest that he committed

the murders. they're trying to spare him the death penalty. scott, defense lawyer, david bruck urged the jury not to behave like the person who committed this crime. >> mark strassmann. fascinating interview tonight. thank you very much. still ahead -- did a job placement agency ignore black applicants while helping hispanics. inside the white house -- the day japan attacked pearl harbor. i pinky promised my little girl a fabulous

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that's why pampers swaddlers is the #1 choice of hospitals to wrap your baby in blanket-like softness so all they feel is love pampers swaddlers national job placement company is being sued accused of favoring hispanics over african-americans. dean reynolds is in chicago. >> reporter: mvp staffing a job placement agency that operates 60 offices in 38 states. its vehicles carry thousand of mostly temporary workers to client companies every day. and it now stands accused of rigging the business against african-americans. built on the testimony of alleged mvp whistle blowers, the lawsuit charges the company systematically placed hispanics over blacks, for one simple reason. hispanics were often undocumented, and less inclined

to complain about hours, wages or conditions. joseph sellers represents the group of african-american plaintiffs. >> the actions of mvp we uncovered were directly responsive to the client company's demand or what they anticipated client companies wanted. >> 29-year-old kevin james turned to mvp after a string of odd jobs. how many times did you seek a job through them? >> i would say at least 20 times. >> and you got it once? >> that's correct. >> james has been out of work for the last month and has little resource but to turn to placement agencies like mvp. >> i was hoping i could go through one of the companies and seek help. or work. i should say. >> is it frustrating that you can't? >> it is very frustrating. >> reporter: african-americans who make up 29% of chicago's population, account for 52% of the city's unemployed. the lack of jobs or the hope of landing one is considered a factor in the city's escalating

violence. >> people respond to that feeling of -- disenfranchisement in a variety of ways. some may respond with violence. others respond in other ways. but it is -- it really is sort of a cancer on the fabric of the community. >> reporter: we have called and e-mailed mvp staffing since the lawsuit was filed on tuesday. but the company has the had no comment. the workers involved in the case are suing to end the discrimination, scott, and to collect the wages they say they lost because of it. >> dean reynolds. thanks. >> we're back in just a moment. ♪ rooms come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. with eight times more fragrance control, the air wick® scented oil warmer lets you dial up or down for the perfect amount of fragrance. no matter the size of the room. air wick®. home is in the air.

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take mucinex dm. i'll text you in 4 hours when your cough returns. one pill lasts 12 hours, so... looks like i'm good all night! some cough medicines only last 4 hours. but just one mucinex lasts 12 hours. let's end this. this is the 75th anniversary of the japanese attack on pearl harbor. vice president elect mike pence and john mccain led the commemoration at the world war

ii memorial in washington. at pearl harbor itself, thousand observed a moment of silence in memory of the more than 2300 u.s. servicemen who died. john blackstone is there. john? >> reporter: scott, the survivors who have come back to pearl harbor and the arizona memorial for this 75th anniversary, are now mostly in their 90s. and no, they may never return. >> you made it. >> this time, mel heckman was the one who needed help getting to the shore along pearl harbor's battleship row. >> this is it. this is the exact spot where it happened 75 years ago. >> december 7, 1941, he was the one giving help. >> we saved as many men as we could. >> reporter: at 93, this was heckman's wish, hue return for the first time with his daughter, grandchildren, even a great grandson. the place he was standing as

japanese planes attacked. does it seem like 75 years ago? >> i remember every moment like it happened yesterday. when the japanese came in the sky was black. there were so many of them. >> reporter: bombs rained down. heckman was struck by shrapnel in his back. >> i felt flames, flames, flames, and explosions. >> reporter: the battleship's arizona and oklahoma were hit right in front of him. the water was on fire. heckman helped rescue sailors swimming through the flames. >> they went like this, the flames, and knocked the flames away. >> reporter: you were 18 years old. a lot of them were 18, 19. >> that's it. like my grandson right here. >> standing here, hearing your story. >> the story inspired grandson josh to join the navy. this time it had power he did not expect.

>> i see these people, i can see them with my eyes. >> yeah. >> couldn't imagine. >> reporter: heckman's daughter joanne had heard the story before, but not like this. >> i can see it happening. i've can hear all of the -- all of the bombs and the commotion. >> my grandfather is not only a great american hero, he is my hero. >> reporter: he is being hailed as a hero at this week's commemorations, as is every other surviving pearl harbor veteran on this 75th anniversary. >> here at 93, i am just as tough as i was then. >> reporter: as the number of survivors steadily declines the nation and their families pledge always to remember. the story of pearl harbor will never be told as vividly as by those who were there. john blackstone, cbs news, pearl harbor. up next -- the white house on the day of infamy. ,$8drw ,,,,,,,,,,,

>> we interrupt this program. the japanese have attacked pearl harbor by air. president roosevelt just announced. >> john daly re-creating december 7, 1941, report, the original was lost to history. it was a sunday afternoon in washington, and fdr was about to take the nation to war. here is david martin. >> president roosevelt was as shocked as everyone else. he was working on his stamp collection in his private white house study, preserved in this panoramic photo at the fdr library in hyde park, new york. >> the phone rings at this desk, secretary of the navy on the line. and he tells the president, that the pearl harbor naval base is under attack. >> he is the library's curator. >> first reaction was to shout into the phone, no. in a state of disbelief.

>> reporter: within a matter of hours, roosevelt dictated and edited in his own hand, one of the greatest presidential speeches ever. beginning with the stirring line he delivered to a joint session of congress the next day. >> december 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy. >> reporter: but there were moments, says paul spare row, director of the fdr library, when the enormity of what happened almost overwhelmed the president. >> he was having dinner with his son and closest advisers where i think the weight got to him. he had a moment of despair. >> he felt that he was -- going to go down in history as a terrible president. >> reporter: later that same evening around midnight he met with cbs newsman, edward murrow. >> sandwiches and beer were served. roosevelt just opened up about the full extent of what had happened in hawaii. >> by then, roosevelt knew but had not told the public that

american aircraft had been caught sitting wing tip to wing tip on the runway. >> at one point according to murrow, he pounds his fist on the desk and says he is talking about the planes destroyed on the ground by god on the ground. >> just the perfect example of not being prepared? >> think he was very upset that, that the military had been caught so unaware. >> murrow left knowing he had a story that would stop the presses. >> but he said later that he felt that roosevelt was really just using him as the a sounding board. and he did not feel that it was appropriate for him to run with the story though roosevelt had not said the meeting was off the record. >> reporter: it was, says everheart a remarkablened to a remarkable day. >> most every ship in the are bar has been hit. all most impossible to imagine in this day of instant communication. david martin, cbs news, hyde park, new york. that's the "overnight news" for this thursday. for some of you, the news continues. for others check back with us a

little later for the morning news and cbs this morning. from the broadcast center in new york city, i'm scott pelley. hi, welcome to the "overnight news." i'm demarco more gachb o morgan. government troops backed by russia and other foreign fighters are closing the noose around rebel held neighborhoods in aleppo. rebel leaders are calling for a five-day cease-fire to allow civilians to escape the carnage. debora patta is there. the syrian government backed by russia is using every means at its disposal to take back eastern aleppo. still rebel factions are refusing to give up. syrian soldier shows that less than 100 meet ears way from their building, opposition fighters are hiding.

opposition control over the east is weakening as the syrian army takes back chunks of territory. like here in al shar where the air chokes with dust. government forces, took it back one day ago. this road leads to the old city. a key prize in this battle. a few streets away we come across civilian whose just got out. if they can't walk themselves they're carried to safety. does any one know who this woman is, this man shouts. no one answers. not everyone is running away. mohammad dockman cannot contain himself. this is the first time he has seen his mother, zalia in five years. my soul, she sobs, you are everything to me, my son.

another son joins in. she remained in eastern aleppo, her three sons and families lived in the government controlled west. her sons join the syrian army, their uniform marking them as enemies of the opposition. visiting their mother in rebel held territory became impossible. he knew that the bombs unleashed on the opposition fighters by the army he serves rained down on his mother's home as well. >> translator: all of the time i was helpless, he told us. i was constantly thinking i would lose her. in those five long years, much has changed. the neighborhood they group in is now unrecognizable. but for a brief moment, the horrors of war are put aside, zahir gets to know the grandchildren she never met. and then finally, it is time to go home. together. for cbs this morning, debora patta, aleppo.

coroners in oakland say they have identified all 36 bodies pulled from the tragic warehouse fire. federal investigators say it looked like the fire started on the ground floor possibly by faulty refrigerator or electrical device. david begnaud has the the latest. >> reporter: the mayor of oakland said i don't want to talk what went wrong, i want to focus on finding the victims. last night the mayor pivoted started to answer questions about possible inspection failures here at the warehouse in oakland. in fact her office overnight, all night, has been releasing public documents online. fire officials have now begun tearing down the unstable walls of the so-called ghost ship warehouse. as their search for victims ends, and they try to uncover how the fire began. >> there is no determination of origin or cause in regards to this fire. >> reporter: according to bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives there is no indication the fire was

deliberately set. they're looking at whether a refrigerator or faulty appliance may have caused the fire. >> they're looking at potential sources of ignition. any kind of electrical appliance, lamps, cords. >> oakland's mayor confirms there were multiple complaints filed against the structure. she is promising complete transparency including the release overnight of years of city record connected to the property. one document says inspectors came here two weeks before the fire but couldn't get inside. video obtained by cbs news shows police officers inside the structure, reportedly less than two months ago. do you believe there was a systematic fame year across the board? >> i'm not prepared to draw conclusions from the history. but i will remind you that the responsibilities and duties of different city employees vary. police officers are not trained in zbloeng laws. >> we need to make sure justice is served. >> the district attorney's

office launched a criminal investigation. >> you walked through the building. what was your initial assessment? >> it was horrifying and heartbreaking. you just felt that, the sense of the loss of life. >> reporter: recovery workers told sergeant j.d. nelson it was heartbreaking for them as well. >> there was a man and a woman, they were in the prone position. and the man was in such a way it looked like he was shielding her from harm's way. >> reporter: when you talk to people in the area, the first thang they tell you is we are angry, angry people had to liven a warehouse like this. this was permitted for commercial use, nobody should have been living there. people who have lived there say the prices are too expensive in the area forcing people to live illegally. in the warehouses like the one behind me. >> beginning to look a lot like the north pole in parts of the upper midwest. omar villafranca. >> reporter: people in bismarck waking up to single digits. and what you see here, snowdrifts. there is more snow in the

forecast. even worse there is more wind on the way. wind gusts up to 60 miles an hour make it nearly unbearable. with temperatures still dropping people here are bracing for the worst. blinding snow blanketed boulder, colorado, overnight. clogging roads, causing crashes, and forcing emergency crews to help out. north dakota is no stranger to harsh winter weather. although it is technically still fall. nearly all of i-94 stretching across the state is closed. leaving the normally busy highway eerily silent. in minop, the international airport grounded all flights tuesday. whiteout conditions in nearby grand forks made driving nearly impos bum. this stop sign marked the only spot of color in a sea of white. in the east, in douglas county, minnesota, heavy winds whipped snow across the roads. bismarck, the capital of north

dakota was buried in nearly a foot of powder. people braved single digit temperatures to try and clear their door ways and dig out driveways. blizzard conditions made walking a tedious task. and driving even harder. >> how was the visibility? >> visibility in areas is down to zero. right now in this area because we have got, you know, structures, trees, not so bad. when you get out in the open it is reduced. >> couldn't see the car in front of you. >> times when it is absolutely look that, yeah. >> the cbs "overnight news" will be right back. looking for balance in your digestive system?

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it will invest $1.3 billion in mexico. the company plans to build new shopping centers and expand existing ones. wal-mart says it will create more than 10,000 jobs south of the border. meanwhile, north of the border, there is a high tech boom under way in mississippi. in an area known as the golden triangle. bill wilt kerr hhitaker has the 60 minutes. >> reporter: if you have heard of the golden triangle it might be because of this. mississippi state football. around here, everybody loves the bulldogs. and bulldog is an apt description of the man who runs economic development for the area. joe max higgins. he considered job creation a full contact sport.

>> the only way we win any deal is to tear off everybody else's face. we got to kill everybody to win the deal. >> ferocity is a job requirement. during the recession, unemployment in some parts of the triangle got as the high as 20%. >> we are going to come up with a program. >> at 6%, unemployment is now just above the national average and a lot of people here credit joe max higgins. he attracted $6 billion of advanced industry. including this mill run by steel dynamics. it is one of the most high-tech steel mills in the country. he got his helicopter factory up and running. truck maker packard used to build engines in europe and opened the first u.s. plant in the triangle. >> companies were moving around. offshoring. they were going to -- countries where everything was cheaper. >> for some companies, offshore wasn't as great as they thought

it was or portrayed to be. many of the companies said, hey if it is going to be consumed in the u.s., we can produce it in the u.s. cheaper, more efficiently than we can elsewhere and bring it in. >> they save money being here in mississippi. >> uh-huh. uh-huh. >> reporter: hig ggins brought 6,000 jobs to the area since 2003. may not sound like a lot to people in big cities. to people here in the small towns of the golden triangle it amount to half of the manufacturing jobs lost during the last 25 years. through the 1990s, factories here produced textiles, toys, tubing. one by one, they shuttle down and thousands of low skilled jobs vanished. >> where did all the jobs go? >> a lot of the people just left. they were so devastated by closings, how about that. just bam, bam, bam, the hits keep on coming. >> joe max higgins hired away

from his economic development job in arkansas to stop the hemorrhaging here in the try anything try anything m. makes $250,000 a year, paid by partnership of the three counties and local businesses. people here will tell you he earns every penny. he is look a very demanding head coach. >> there is no taking plays off, never. okay. i tell our staff. if you leave our office and, and you didn't do something to make our place a better place today then you need to fiend another job. >> you sound like a coach. >> probably what i should be. >> reporter: right away he coached his small staff to the triangle's biggest win in 50 years. they beat out louisiana, missouri, and arkansas, convincing the steel mill that building here was its smartest and cheapest option. since 2007, 24 hours a day, scrap metal is dumped into giant buckets. lifted into an electric furnace,

and melted down in a fiery display. in the old days, a mill like this would have needed 4,000 workers. here, it takes only 650. to turn out more than 3 million tons of steel a year. electrician jared glover took us as close to the blazing furnace as you can get. >> this is all automated. >> all the workers were a small force. >> reporter: this is what advanced manufacturing looks like. a small, highly trained work force, keeps the automation humming. jared glover used to work at a lumber mill, living paycheck to paycheck. now, he earns more than $100,000 a year, about three times his old salary. >> what has that meant to you and your family? >> two kids coming here. now i got four. we got a bigger house. got a little more land. you know, we are, they got a good school they go to. everybody is happy. >> how you doing? >> well, how are you?

>> reporter: joe max higgins, the definition of downhome. don't be fooled, it is a good bet he has more hard-edged business savvy than any harvard mbas. >> 1.75 billion, do the freaking math. >> reporter: he outwits the competition with a bag full of tricks. he can twist your arm or kill you with kindness, he can wear you down, he lobbies relentlessly and so far has rounded up $500 million in generous tax breaks and cash in se incentives from state and local politicians. >> $4 million in here. tell you how this is structured. >> reporter: joe max higgins has vision, we don't mean 20/20. he can see what others don't. he took us up to show us. >> joe, when i look out, i see beautiful, green agricultural land. what do you see? >> well, when i look at the land i see it as the product for us to develop. >> reporter: he bet the farm that in this state with weak labor unions here, could attract

industry like a magnet. if he turned that land down there into massive industrial ready sites. >> if you build it they will come. >> yeah, installing the water. installing the sewer. installing the roads. getting everything ready so when that company comes to locate they're eliminating all risk. the lot is there, ready to stick the shovel in and built. >> reporter: he had to convince county supervisors to spend almost $12 million on the first site where steel dynamics now sits. he has since built up three other mega sites and envisions more. it wasn't an easy sell at first. he told us, people in the golden try triangle were paralyzed by the decline and poverty. he saw the area rich in assets. an airport. railroads, waterway that ran north to the great lakes and south to the gulf coast. and a quality engineering program at mississippi state. i said these guys should be winning. you know, something is not

right. they didn't see. they didn't see, correct. they didn't realize that they were big and strong and fast. nobody had ever told them they were big, strong, fast. they just thought they were, slow and stupid. i guess. >> he would say you just have a losing attitude. you expect to be a loser. you don't expect to be a winner. >> reporter: alegra brigham, the former ceo, and john davis, served on the search committee. they thought his brash style would shake up the status quo. >> before joe came in what would have been considered a success? >> the mayor at that time said, if you will just get us a new movie theater, we'll consider your job a success. a movie theater. which was -- hardly any jobs. and they're all, they're all, highschoole highschoolers. >> when did he start to turn things around? >> immediately. >> reporter: he pressed the county to fork over $400,000 for

water and sewer to get the helicopter plant off the ground. today, 200 workers handcraft about 50 helicopters a year. mostly for the army and law enforcement. the average pay on the factory floor, $50,000 a year. plus full benefits. they made the helicopter we flew in. what sort of impact did that have on the community? >> i think the helicopter plant kind of transformed this region. here's why. it was literally making something that flew. that was the project that gave us some reason to believe. we can do this. >> reporter: you can see the full report on our website, cbs news.com. i pinky promised my little girl a fabulous garden party for her birthday. so i mowed the lawn, put up all the decorations. i thought i got everything. almost everything! you know, 1 in 10 houses could get hit by a septic disaster, and a bill of up to $13,000. but for only $7 a month, rid-x is scientifically proven to

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lets you dial up or down for the perfect amount of fragrance. no matter the size of the room. air wick®. home is in the air. an old phrase, some like it hot. especially true in the world of takeout chicken joints. jan crawford has the story. >> at hattiebs in nashville, the line goes down the block for what once was the city's best kept secret. hot chicken. >> can i get the large dark plate, hot. >> i am going to have the tenders. but i want them hot. >> reporter: it is an addictive combination of pleasure and pain. fried chicken, doused in cayenne, and enough spices to make you sweat. >> your eyes are watering. >> ooh. because he doesn't dupe this. >> let me tell you -- yeah.

>> i don't know if this was a good move or not. >> father and son, nick bishop and nick jr. >> i will start hiccups in a minute. >> reporter: they fry up their chicken five ways, home, damn hot and shut the cluck up. >> why do you think people want to eat things that cause them pain? >> you kind of get high from them? >> high, really? legend has it that hot chicken started 80 years ago with the family of this woman. andre prince jeffreys. >> of course it started with the woman. of course. my great uncle thornton prince being as they say a womanizer. >> reporter: a womanizer who was cheating on his girlfriend. so she decided revenge was a dish best served hot. and added some spices to his

fried chicken. >> this woman was angry. so she wanted to let him know. so she dashed up that chicken. but he liked it. he did. >> reporter: that was the beginning? >> we assume that was the beginning. but it is so sad that we don't know who she suz. was. >> reporter: her legacy lives on. great uncle thornton started ape restaurant using the girlfriend's recipe. and prince's hot chicken shack still packs them in. >> number 48. number 54. >> reporter: these days, there is competition. even from some of the big boys. >> his kfc smoke crispy hot nashville chicken tenders. for those with stomach of steel there is death row chicken at big shakes. cooks actually have to wear gas masks. and brave participants in its

regular death row challenge must sign a waiver. >> you can start now! >> whoo! [ applause ] no gimmick. even a few bites burn. but on the night we were there, comedian chad riden kept asking for more. chewing his way to victory. whoo! [ applause ] >> there was a guy here who had three bites and had to run out. >> amateur. that's just sad. why did he each come? >> reporter: if he is an amateur, what does that make you? >> an idiot. >> reporter: maybe that's why when it comes to taking the heat, andre prince jeffreys, the matriarch of the place that started it all, has a confession. so you made all of these different levels of heat. >> right. >> reporter: which one you do you like? >> mild. >> reporter: mild. you like the mild? >> i can't tolerate anything

hot. [ laughter ]

tears and prayers in hype high as the nation marked 75 years since the japanese attack on pearl harbor. service personnel died that day, 1100 were wounded. the toll could have been worse if not for the rescue efforts of many brave sailors. john black stone has the story of one of them. >> this time, mel heckman was the one who needed help getting to the shore along pearl harbor's battleship row. >> this is it. this is the exact spot where it happened 75 years ago. >> december 7, 1941, he was the one giving help. >> we saved as many men as we could. >> reporter: at 93, this was heckman's wish, hue return for the first time with his daughter, grandchildren, even a great grandson. the place he was standing as

japanese planes attacked. does it seem like 75 years ago? >> i remember every moment like it happened yesterday. when the japanese came in the sky was black. there were so many of them. >> reporter: bombs rained down. heckman was struck by shrapnel in his back. >> i felt flames, flames, flames, and explosions. >> reporter: the battleship's arizona and oklahoma were hit right in front of him. the water was on fire. heckman helped rescue sailors swimming through the flames. >> they went like this, the flames, and knocked the flames away. >> reporter: you were 18 years old. a lot of them were 18, 19. >> that's it. like my grandson right here. >> standing here, hearing your story. >> the story inspired grandson josh to join the navy.

this time it had power he did not expect. >> i see these people, i can see them with my eyes. >> yeah. >> couldn't imagine. >> reporter: heckman's daughter joanne had heard the story before, but not like this. >> i can see it happening. i've can hear all of the -- all of the bombs and the commotion. >> my grandfather is not only a great american hero, he is my hero. >> reporter: he is being hailed as a hero at this week's commemorations, as is every other surviving pearl harbor veteran on this 75th anniversary. >> here at 93, i am just as tough as i was then. >> reporter: as the number of survivors steadily declines the nation and their families pledge always to remember. the story of pearl harbor will never be told as vividly as by those who were there. john blackstone, cbs news, pearl harbor. that's the "overnight news" for this thursday. for some of you the news continues. for others check back with us a

little later for the morning news and of course cbs this morning. captioning funded by cbs captioning funded by cbs it's thursday, december 8th, 2016. this is the "cbs morning news." on the run. a manhunt is underway for the person suspected of shooting two georgia police officers, killing one of them. >> back off! back off! >> chaos and fear erupting at a reno high school as a knife-wielding student is shot by a campus police officer. and twitter attack. the president-elect lashes out against a union leader who called mr. trump out on his carrier deal. good m