>> the salt on the road from the brine will melt the snow by the time we get out there. it's going to help us out. >> reporter: an arctic blast has surfaced in recent days from the midwest to the east coast. this house in webster, new york, was entombed in ice. the chill is far cry from the mild winter so far. the state of ohio has spent just $63.3 million dollars on its snow and ice operations budget, $15 million less than a year ago. it's been at least 146 years since chicago has seen no measurable snowfall in january or february, but that's expected to change tonight with at least five inches here.

the cold spell is threatening the cherry blossoms in washington, d.c. the trees are on the verge of peak bloom. bitter cold and wet, heavy snow sitting on the flower buds could kill them. and with a little bit more than a week before spring, anthony, this is not even the latest blizzard the hit ohio. last year nearly a foot of snow fell in the second week of april. >> michelle miller in cleveland, thanks, michelle. the storm is already causing trouble for travelers. transportation correspondent kris van cleave is at laguardia airport in new york. >> it's my father's birthday, and it's a pain in the neck. you know, it's making me so upset. >> reporter: this woman is like thousands trying to beat winter's brutal last gasp. she has to get out today to be with her family to celebrate in time. >> i will have to wait maybe until thursday, or if not maybe

i don't know when. >> reporter: she's far from alone. airlines are pulling their planes out of the storm's path tonight, and flights are expected to be scarce up and down the east coast tomorrow. yvonne reese is hoping to get home to ohio. >> i've been here in a blizzard in '92. i don't want to do it again. >> reporter: are you worried about getting stuck? >> yeah. i'm worried we're going to get canceled here because of ohio's weather and we're going to get stuck here. >> reporter: amtrak's busy express trains won't travel between new york and boston tuesday. today it was business as usual, a relief for christina sherman. >> we switched the train a day earlier so we could make it before the snow. >> reporter: drivers gassed up to prepare, but the roads could be impassable. new york city will be under a state of emergency starting at midnight, just a few hours before the first snow is predicted. the city's mayor, bill deblasio. >> change your plans. get off the streets. obviously closing schools. that's going to take a lot of pressure off the roads right there we believe.

>> reporter: and those departure boards are filling up with a lot of red, and red means canceled, anthony, the people behind us here among the last folks who are going to get out of this airport before the snow brings it to a grinding halt. >> kris van cleave at laguardia. thank you, kris. overseas, iraqi troops backed by the u.s. have trapped isis forces inside western mosul. the terror group had held iraq's second largest city for nearly three years. the fighting to liberate it is fierce and holly williams is there. >> reporter: au.s. coalition air strike and another one pulverizing an isis fighting position. [ explosions ] brigadier general abbas al jbouri confirms they hit their target little more than a city block away. >> killed more than 15. >> reporter: that means your men can now push forward another 200 yards or so?

then it's the job of these iraqi forces to clear another neighborhood. they're the ones risking their lives to eradicate isis. and after four months of fighting, they have them surrounded. but instead of surrendering, isis militants are still lobbing mortars. and on every street there's more evidence of the chaos they've reeked on this city. this charred and shattered building is all that's left of mosul's museum. the exhibits nowhere to be seen. celebrated the desecration in a propaganda video. artifacts from one of the world's oldest civilizations, unislamic according to a gang of violent fanatics. luckily some were apparently plaster replicas, but others were genuine and invaluable. these are all the signs saying

what used to be here. vandalism and hatred inflicted by the so-called islamic state on this majority muslim city. what do they believe in? >> i don't know. they are crazy. just destroy them. just against human. >> reporter: just destruction? >> yeah. that's all. >> reporter: iraqi forces are now on the edge of mosul's historic old city, anthony, where maze of narrow alleyways could mean the toughest urban fighting they've faced so far. >> holly williams on the front lines in iraq. thanks, holly. coming up next, a two-year-old girl could be first to die in this country from a burning hoverboard. (alarms) where's the car? it'll be here in three...uh, four minutes. are you kidding me? no, looks like he took a wrong turn. don't worry, this guy's got like a four-star rating, we're good. his name is randy. that's like one of the most trustworthy names! ordering a getaway car with an app? are you randy? that's me!

awesome! surprising. what's not surprising? how much money erin saved by switching to geico. everybody comfortable with the air temp? i could go a little cooler. ok. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more.

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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. a young girl in pennsylvania is believed to be the first person in this country killed by a fire that started in a hoverboard. jericka duncan is in harrisburg. >> reporter: when this raging fire tore through this pennsylvania home friday night, several children could not get out. >> we need an additional line. we still have people trapped in the upper floors. >> reporter: the fire killed two-year-old ashante hughes and seriously injured two others. the surviving children told officials the blaze was started by a hoverboard plugged into an outlet. harrisburg fire chief brian enterline. >> i heard some sizzling and crackling in the hoverboard, and

shortly thereafter it exploded in flames. >> reporter: lieutenant dennis devoe, a 21-year veteran of the fire department, was killed in a traffic accident while responding to the fire. last year the consumer product safety commission recalled more than 500,000 hoverboards by eight different manufacturers. in some cases the lithium batteries can overheat or catch fire. since 2015, the commission has investigated more than 60 fires caused by malfunctioning hoverboards. shaka crawford was greeted with a warm hug from a neighbor as she stood outside of her fire-ravaged home, a small memorial is now growing in memory of her two-year-old granddaughter. she had a stern warning for anyone who has a hoverboard in their home. >> get rid of 'em. get rid of 'em. get rid of 'em. >> reporter: the two girls who were hospitalized as a result of

this fire are expected to be released tonight according to the family. anthony, the consumer product safety commission says if you own a hoverboard that is on their recall list, it's not too late to return that hoverboard and get a refund. >> jericka duncan with some important advice tonight. thanks, jericka. still ahead, an irresistible force turned them into immovable objects.

two former penn state officials pleaded guilty today to misdemeanor child endangerment charges in the jerry sandusky sex abuse scandal. former athletic director tim curley and former vice president gary schultz did not report sandusky to police. each could face five years in prison. sandusky, the former assistant football coach, is serving a long prison term for molesting ten boys. 35,000 lined up to start a bike race yesterday in cape town, south africa, but mother nature wasn't having it. the riders took off and were suddenly blown off their bikes by winds that topped 60 miles per hour. it was a struggle just to stand up. the race was called off.

up next, cactus flowers. spring in colorful bloom in the southwest.,,,,,,,,,,,,

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proudly caring for northern california, birthplace of pioneers. finally tonight, as the midwest digs out of a snowstorm and the northeast prepares for a blizzard, spring is blooming in the west in living color. here's john blackstone. >> reporter: when wild flowers bloom like this in the southern california desert, it's a sight to treasure. >> this is good.

this is not to be missed. >> reporter: visitors to the ana borrego state park east of san diego are witnessing the desert at its most colorful. it's a rare display thanks to rain this winter that finally broke california's drought. >> quite a variety that's come up. >> reporter: steve bier has been a park ranger here for 15 years. >> you wonder, where did the yellows and the purples and the whites come from. >> reporter: ana borrego received double its annual rainfall, enough to bring life to seeds lying on the desert floor for years. these seeds have waited all that time? >> there are some that have been waiting for decades. >> reporter: what kind of respect does it give you looking out at the desert? >> this is beautiful. you can not look at this and imagine that someone could come out and say nothing survives in the desert. >> reporter: but it's also true that nothing survives for long in the desert. and then, as well, one day you'll come out and this will be gone. >> it will all be gone.

>> reporter: the wild flowers are already being consumed by hungry caterpillars, also having their brief moment to thrive in this harsh landscape, and temperatures climbing over 100 will quickly wilt what the caterpillars leave behind, but for a few weeks, blossoms are everywhere. this is certainly an example of the desert in bloom. >> it is indeed. >> reporter: for now in this desert, even a cactus is much more than its spikes. >> it takes your breath away, it really does. >> reporter: john blackstone, cbs news, ana borrego state park. >> and that's the "overnight news" for this tuesday. for some of you the news continues, for others check back later for the morning news and of course, "cbs this morning." from the broadcast center in new york city, i'm anthony mason. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

this is the "cbs overnight news." twok the "overnight news." i'm tony dokoupil. it looks like the end of the line for islamic state fighters in the iraqi city of mosul. forces are closing the noose around the final neighborhoods held by the jihadis and the last escape route has been cut. still, there are hundreds of thousands of civilians under the gun. holly williams is on the frontline. >> reporter: the u.s. coalition air strike, and another one, pulverizing an isis fighting position. [ explosions ] general abbas al jbouri confirms they have hit the target. >> killed more than 15.

>> reporter: that means your men can now push forward another 200 yards or so? then it's the job of these iraqi forces to clear another neighborhood. they're the ones risking their lives to eradicate isis. and after four months of fighting, they have them surrounded. but instead of surrendering, isis militants are still lobbing mortars. and on every street there's more evidence of the chaos they've reeked on this city. this charred and shattered building is all that's left of mosul's museum. the exhibits nowhere to be seen. isis smashed them and then celebrated the desecration in a propaganda video. artifacts from one of the world's oldest civilizations, unislamic according to a gang of violent fanatics. luckily some were apparently plaster replicas, but others were genuine and invaluable.

these are all the signs saying what used to be here. vandalism and hatred inflicted by the so-called islamic state on this majority muslim city. what do they believe i >> i don't know. they are crazy. just destroy them. just against human. >> reporter: just destruction? >> yeah. that's all. >> reporter: iraqi forces are now on the edge of mosul's historic old city, anthony, where a maze of narrow alleyways could mean the toughest urban fighting they've faced so far. at the white house, sean spicer says "president trump doesn't personally think president obama personally wiretapped his phones. major garrett reports. >> reporter: president trump again ignored questions about

what evidence he has to back up a week-old claim on twitter that president obama tapped his phones at trump tower. white house press secretary sean spicer. >> i think if you look at the president's tweet, he said very clearly "wiretapping" in quotes. >> reporter: that according to spicer could mean any type of surveillance. spicer said the president's tweets spoke for themselves. the first and second did put "wiretapping" in quotes, but the third and fourth did not, and fourth accused mr. obama of a crime similar to watergate, calling him bad and sick. spicer said the president has not directed the justice department to turn over evidence requested by the house intelligence committee. so you're saying the president doesn't have an obligation to provide any -- >> i'm not saying that at all. there is no question that there have been an abundance of reports regarding surveillance and other type of activities that occurred during the 2016 election. >> and that leads us to believe the president's only evidence are these reports.

>> no, no, no, that leads you to believe that. >> reporter: white house councilor kellyanne conway also says she has no evidence of wiretapping. >> there are many ways to surveil each other now. unfortunately. >> reporter: do you believe that was -- >> there was an article that talked about how you can surveil someone through their phone, certainly through their television sets, any number of different ways, and microwaves that turn into cameras, et cetera. >> reporter: in another interview, conway clarified. >> i'm not inspector gadget. i don't believe people are using their microwave to spy on the trump campaign. however, i have -- i'm not in the job of having evidence. the national debate over medical marijuana could now be going to the dogs. a lot of pet owners are choosing cannabis to treat their ailing animals. mireya villarreal has this story from los angeles. >> reporter: pet owners who can no longer find pain relief for

their furry friends are turning to products just by this. they swear by the results, but this is not regulated and there's no proven results, which means this product right here is finding sol d ining some dogged. it's dinnertime for brutus and kailee. but they're also fend something extra, a dose of liquid cannabis. he says it's helped alleviate kailee's anxiety and brutus' chronic pain after surgery for a pit bull attack. >> using cannabis has made a big difference. >> reporter: are you seeing an impact in their life? >> a huge impact. 13-year-old dogs are going to have more issues with mobility and his quality of life is just so much more enjoyable. >> reporter: some people will say, however, that you are drugging your dog. >> okay. i beg to differ. i feel like this is botanical. this is plant medicine. >> it's specifically made for

the animals. >> reporter: alison got into the medical marijuana field about 20 years ago. her focus has shifted from humans to animals. >> we use the same cannabis extract we do in humans. and i've seen better results in the animals than i am in the humans. >> reporter: she says her products does for animals the same thing medical pot does for humans, alleviates pain, even battles cancer. >> we don't have any actual peer reviewed studies for the use of those compounds on pets. >> reporter: veterinarian ken polaski says as more states legalize marijuana, cases of pets getting sick for ingesting marijuana are spiking. >> we see pets that come in with

intoxications and they can run the gamete from being fairly mild to severe. unfortunately, there are instances where there have been fatal overdoses. >> reporter: although such deaths are rare, he says they often cause sensory overload, lack of coordination and tremors. >> if you use small amounts and follow the instructions, it does not get the animal high. >> reporter: she says because pet products have fewer chemicals, the animal won't get sick. as for brett hartman, he hopes lawmakers clear the way for studies which could confirm the safety of cannabis for pets. >> i'm looking forward to common sense legislation, which is going to be based on facts. >> reporter: if people want to give pot to their pets, they have to have a valid cannabis cards. veterinarians are not allowed to recommend marijuana for the owners, which means the owner is acting as the pet's doctor.

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questions continue to surround the roll of the kremlin may have played in president trump's election last fall. on top of that is the president's professed admiration for vladamir putin. what he doesn't mention is the unfortunate fate that befalls some of putin's most prominent critics. they have been victims of shootings, suspicious suicides and poisonings. leslie stall has the story of one of them for "60 minutes." >> reporter: vladamir karamerze protested putin's policies in town hall meetings. he knew he was on a dangerous mission. when we met him last year, he said one day in may of 2015, he learned just how dangerous. >> i was in a work meeting with

my colleagues in moscow when i suddenly started to feel really sick. and i went from feeling completely normal to a very sick man. i don't remember anything for a month. i was in a coma for a week and i don't remember anything for a month and i had a cascade all of my organs switching off. >> reporter: she was shuttled from hospital to hospital in moscow for two days, as doctors frantically tried to figure out what was wrong with him. >> i was at one point connected to i think eight different artificial life support machines and doctors told my wife that it was going to be 5% chance that i survived. >> reporter: but he pete tbeat odds. but he was still walking with a limp from nerve damage. so what happened? >> it was some kind of very strong toxin, i don't know what it was. with these things as people who know more about this explain to me, you basically have to know

exactly what you're testing for to find it. >> reporter: so they never found the exact compound? >> they never did. >> reporter: it wasn't until the fourth day and after he had been on a dialysis machine that blood was drown and sent to a toxicology lab in france. it found heavy metals in his blood, but no specific toxin. still, he maintains that he was poisoned. >> i have absolutely no doubt that this was deliberate poisoning, that it was intended to kill. because as i mentioned, the doctors told my wife it's a 5% chance of survival. >> reporter: can you be sure that what happened to you was directed by mr. putin? >> well, that i have no idea. i don't know the precise circumstances, the who or the how. but i do know why. [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: in recent years, quite a few of putin's enemies have perished by swallowing things they shouldn't have. in 2006, russian spy turned

kremlin critic alexander litvinenko drank tea laced with pelonium 210. but what would the motive be in the case of the critic vladamir karamerze. cambridge educated, he was for years a washington based reporter. so he was well connected and had perfect english, which he used to incessantly criticize the regime on the international stage. >> a government based on genuine support does not need to jail opponents. >> reporter: he made matters worse for himself when he joined forces with this man. >> his death, if you cross the putin regime. >> reporter: bill broader was for years the largest foreign investor in russia.

but he turned into a dogged adversary, when his russian tax attorney blew the whistle on alleged large-scale theft by government officials. >> we discovered massive corruption of the putin regime. serge exposed it, testified against officials involved. he was subsequently arrested, put in pretrial detention, tortured for 358 days and killed at the age of 38. >> he was so outraged, he joined with vladamir karamerzer to lobby congress for a law targeting those responsible for that death and other human rights violations. they succeeded. the madnitski act passed in 2012. it a tess first law that sanctions individual russians, 44 so far. >> it's designed to sanction, to freeze the assets and ban the visas for people who commit these types of crimes in russia.

>> reporter: so they can't get to their money which may be stashed in the united states. >> so vladamir putin is extremely angry that the act was going to be passed. he was angrier when it got passed and angrier when names started getting added to the list. >> reporter: one reason vladamir karamerzer is convinced he was targeted is that six people connected to the case have ernlded up dead. one was boris nemzov, who lobbied for the act. >> he was killed by five bullets in the back as he was walking home. >> reporter: this was an assassination. in some of the deaths, proving there was foul play has been a challenge. take the case of this russian banker who came forward with incriminating documents related to the case. >> alexander paraplicni.

at the age of 44, he went jogging and dropped dead. the police deemed it an unsuspicious natural death. >> reporter: they did look for poisoning but couldn't find any. detecting poison can be extremely difficult and there's a reason. this cold war cia memo reveals that the soviets ran a laboratory for poisons in a large and super secret installation known as the chamber to test undetectible compounds. more tests were orders and it was revealed in court that an exotic toxin was found with the help of an authority on flowers. >> a small sample of his stomach cob tents were sent to me, and

one of the scientists found a compound that is a chinese herb, they call it the heartbreak grass. and it causes a person to die unexpectedly, without explanation. >> reporter: still, there's no direct evidence of a kremlin connection. but the list of those who have come to die unexpectedly after running afoul of mr. putin is long. political opponents and human rights lawyers have been shot. overly inquisitive reporters have perished in mysterious plane crashes or bombs, by poison or gunfire. journ this journalist was poisoned and shot. one killed himself by tying himself to a chair and jumping into a swimming pool. >> and you can see the full report on our website, cbsnews.com.

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mthat stuff only lasts a few hours. or, take mucinex. one pill fights congestion for 12 hours. guess i won't be seeing you for a while. why take medicines that only last 4 hours, when just one mucinex lasts 12 hours? let's end this. the university of dayton is a familiar sight in the ncaa basketball tournament. on friday, the number seven seed

flyers will take on number ten wichita state in the first round of march madness. what's different this year, the game will be available in china. dana jacobson reports. ♪ >> reporter: it's familiar scene. a sold-out game at ohio's university of dayton arena. the exuberant home crowd celebrates the spectacle that is college basketball. the band, the cheerleaders, the face-painted fans. but courtside you also find the unexpected. a pair of student sportscasters calling the action for fans halfway around the world. >> we want to introduce our basketball to more people, not only in the united states but back in china. so i just feel like really excited. >> reporter: they are among the university's first foreign language broadcasters.

>> i feel very excited. >> but also nervous. >> very nervous. >> reporter: up to a thousand fans from abroad tune in. jolin listens on his smartphone from beijing. >> it's unbelievable i can watch a game back in china. >> reporter: >> reporter: they're graduate students studying electrical engineering. >> working with some components like lasers. >> reporter: they're also a couple. >> we started dating like five years ago. she knows me better than somebody else. >> yeah, i know like what kind of mistakes he will make like in the homework, so will i tell him don't do this or something. >> i like their chemistry. they just have an "it" factor.

>> reporter: dayton's assistant athletics director recruited them. i'm assuming you don't speak manld r mandarin. >> i reached out to a professor and he helped with the translation. not just for the knowledge of it, but how do they call a game? are they excited at the right points? do they know the terminology of basketball? >> reporter: listeners abroad can't see the game, only the audio is streamed. and it's not always clear. >> i listened to the game. the signal is not stable. >> reporter: still, he considers the program, now in its second season, a success. >> i think just having that access and that connectivity through the game of basketball, which is just such a shared language, you can't beat it. >> reporter: dayton's international students arrive as fans of the game. when they aren't filling seats

in the arena, they're competing at the campus rec center. how did you get interested in basketball? >> i think yao ming in the nba. >> reporter: yao ming played for eight seasons with the houston rockets, starting in 2002. he's also credited for bringing basketball to a generation of chinese fans. >> yao ming play in america very, very good. and i think maybe i can come to u.s. to broaden my horizons and practice my english. >> yes, i felt like i am. >> reporter: between practicing english and broadcasting in mandarin, they discovered something else in dayton. a shared love for college basketball. >> college basketball game is much more passion than nba game. and sometimes just one game has everything. >> and the dunk! >> i love basketball much, yeah.

i think we will be the flyer fans forever. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

police in france are still hunting for the poachers who broke into a wildlife refuge, killed a white rhino and stole his horn. it's the first such case of poaching in france. but around the world, the illegal slaughter of animals is big business. south africa is attacking the problem in a unique way, with flying dogs. debra patta reports. >> reporter: meet arrow and his handler, henry. harnessed together, they take

off across the vast wildlife preserve. arrow seems unperturbed, even as they hurl themselves out of the helicopter, falling more than 6,000 feet to earth. landing in the middle of the poaching wars. >> getting the dog on the front lines is always a challenge. and parachuting is one of the ways. >> reporter: these elite canine dogs are trained to immediately sniff out the poacher. rushing to attack, pinning him to the ground, until more help arrives. this may be a training exercise, but the dog's bites are real and special bite-proof suits are needed. the dogs are up against heavily armed poachers who run a mull

multimillion dollar industry. in the past seven years, a third of africa's elephants have been wiped out. nearly 100 of these sky diving dogs have been placed in game reserves across africa. in one region, they caught over 100 coachers in 18 months. he told us one dog, killer, nabbed more poachers than rangers equipped with the latest high-tech weapons. >> that is the most effective tool against the fight against coaching ever used. and it's low cost compared to other technologies and it works. >> reporter: man's best friend may turn out to be a poacher's worst enemy. debra patta, cbs news, johannesburg. >> and that's the "overnight news" for this tuesday. for some of you the news continues. for others check back later for the morning news and "cbs this

morning." from the broadcast center in new york city, i'm tony dokoupil. ♪ it's tuesday, march 14th, 2017, this is the "cbs morning news." breaking overnight, a major snowstorm slams the northeast with nearly 50 million people in its path. >> blizzard warnings out from pennsylvania all the way up into maine. >> officials warn -- >> the threat to human life is very significant. >> while shoppers scramble. >> been here waiting in line for 45 minutes. >> and this morning thousands of travelers are stranded at airports across the u.s. >> i was supposed to be out tomorrow. and i pushed it