allowed that to happen in the first place.im to t o nigt sh a negive banc an automated email demanding alex take immediate action, requesting a payment of more than $170,000 on his debt. >> he thought he blew up his life. he thought he screwed up beyond repair. >> reporter: robinhood has no customer service number, but alex emailed three times to help understand whether he could still offset the losses with another trade. could someone please look into this, he wrote, receiving back nothing more than an automated message. >> and their response was a canned reply, basically we'll get back to you later. >> reporter: what do you do with that thought? >> it haunts me. it really does. >> reporter: later that day, the sheriff knocked on the kearns' front door to deliver the news -- alex had killed himself.

>> i lost the love of my life. he -- i miss him more than anything. it's the kind of pain that i don't think should be humanly possible. >> reporter: robinhood says its mission is to democratize finance, bringing younger and more diverse investors into the market. an approach the company highlighted in a super bowl ad. >> you don't need to become an investor, you were born one. robinhood. >> it's the conduct. this conduct is reprehensible. >> reporter: william galvin is the chief financial regulator in the of massachusetts and one of robinhood's chief critics. >> it was a very deliberate effort on the part of robinhood to particularly entice younger inexperienced investors. >> yeah, i bet he's investing right now -- >> reporter: he points to the company's marketing claiming it rewards daily usage of the app and encourages frequent trading.

>> a new kind of investor is changing things up. >> reporter: even working in virtual confetti in what a recent complaint by galvin's office described as gamefication. >> they call themselves robinhood for a reason. right, robinhood steals from the rich and gives to the poor. is that happening? >> i don't think so. they've not acted in the best interests of their customers. idea that they're caring for the poor, it's simply not true. >> reporter: what happened to alex kearns is a particular worry to gn and am. they found more than 600 examples in his state alone of robinhood customers who by the company's own standards should not have been approved for options trading but were. >> their rush to make money out of this has caused them to add people to their base and to recklessly bring people on board who they probably should have said no, we won't qualify you for options now. >> reporter: we, too, were curious to know how easy it is to get approved for basic options trading. one of the first questions is how much investment experience

do you have? i'm going to choose none. that resulted in a rejection. but it's giving me the choice to update my experience if i'd like to -- by simply changing no experience to not much, we got approved immediately. welcome to options. >> how are those guardrails? how does that stop an 18-year-old from making risky trades that they don't really understand? >> reporter: in a suicide note to his parents, alex had similar questions. how is a 20-year-old with no income able to get assigned almost a million dollars worth of leverage, he wrote, adding, i also have no clue what i was doing. >> he said in a note, i didn't want to die. >> he also said that he was doing this for us. he was trying to save us from what he thought was impending financial disaster. >> reporter: in a wrongful death lawsuit they plan to file today, dan and dorothy kearns say robinhood must be held accountable. do you think if robinhood had somebody manning an email account or picking up a phone

that alex would be here today? >> absolutely. >> yeah. i have no doubt. >> he just wanted an answer. >> he just needed a little help. he could have gotten answers to those questions, and there was nobody there to do that for him. >> reporter: it wasn't until the day after alex kearns killed himself that robinhood sent an email suggesting he didn't actually owe any money at all. robinhood's ceo declined an interview with us, but in a statement to cbs news the company said it was, "devastated by alex kearns' death." saying it has since revised the experience requirements for customers seeking the type of riskier trades and options that alex was trading, and also added a feature for customers in his situation to request a callback from the company. however, it still does not have a phone number for customers to call themselves. the company said it disagrees with the allegations made by the commonwealth of massachusetts. robinhood declined to address why it did not respond to alex kearns' emails the night before

his death. >> in part two of tony's report has no phone number for customers to call, and speak with former employees to discuss problems they faced when users needed help. look for that tomorrow. you're watching the "cbs overnight news." (ringing) - hey kaleb, what's up? how you doing? - hey, i'm good, guess what, i just had my 13th surgery. - really? i just had my 17th surgery. - well, you beat me. - well, i am a little bit older than you. - yeah it's true. how are you doing? - i'm doing good. i'm encouraged by seeing how people are coming together to help each other during times like these. - kind of like how shriners hospitals for children is there for us.

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- so what are you waiting for? you can use your phone and call, or go to loveshriners.org to give and join with thousands of other generous people who change lives with their gifts every day. - i think that's about it buddy, good job. - my pleasure captain. please call now. if operators are busy with all the other caring people, please wait patiently, or you can go to loveshriners.org to give right away. - [alec] big or small, your gift helps us all. - [both] thank you. (giggling) the sun is incredible. it makes our lipton tea leaves better. which makes the smooth tea taste better, and time together even better. and drinking lipton can help support a healthy heart. lipton is a proud sponsor of the american heart association's life is why campaign. ordinary tissues burn when theo blows. so dad bought puffs plus lotion. lipton is a proud sponsor ordwith up to 50% more lotioneo blows. puffs bring soothing softness and relief. a nose in need

deserves puffs indeed. people who work in grocery stores are quiet heroes of this pandemic, so far more than 28,000 grocery workers have either tested positive for covid-19 or been exposed. for a while they were getting hazard pay, but that ran out. in long beach, california, the city council recently passed a hero pay ordinance for grocery workers, jonathan vigliotti reports on the pushback to the new rule. >> reporter: there has been a lot of pushback, primarily from kroger, the parent company of food 4 less. they say they can't afford to keep the store open. employees that i have spoken with say that this store has never been busier. you'll hear from a woman who says this is a form of

retaliation, simply for asking for hazard pay, she believes she deserves. bertha ayala has worked the butcher counter at the long beach food 4 less for 14 years. last year was the busiest and hardest. when you go to work every day, do you worry about your health? >> oh, yeah. i'm worried. >> reporter: for good reason. she's diabetic, 61 years older and working six days a week because she was told her job was essential. do you feel like food 4 less recognizes you as a hero? >> they said, but i don't believe it. >> reporter: you're saying they're not putting their money where their mouth is. >> yeah, i feel like we're not important to them. >> reporter: when long beach passed a mandate for hazard pay last month requiring chain grocery stores to pay $4 an hour more for at least 120 days, parent company kroger announced the store was one of two closing. their reason -- the store couldn't afford to stay open. do you feel like you're stuck in the middle of politics here?

>> yes. >> reporter: the union says her food 4 less store saw sales from march to august rise 29% from the year before and says according to financial records, kroger, the largest grocery chain in the country, earned twice as much last year as the previous year. the hero pay ordinance has also prompted a lawsuit from the california grocers association. ron fong is the group's president. >> you know, the one thing that we do agree with is that our employees are our heroes. however, it is really unprecedented to have a city council demand what businesses should do with their wages. >> reporter: bertha says kroger has given her a few gift cards but they're insufficient pandemt >> to todayhe doctor

for often.>>eay ared. >> repter:trt says in the past 12 months, more than 1,800 employees have fallen ill from covid. >> that was jonathan vigliotti reporting from long beach, california. have a look at this cell phone video of avalanche barrelling at snowmobilers. one of whom had to dig brother out of the snow. they're okay, but others not so lucky lately. 14 people died in avalanches in just past week, the most for any seven-day period in more than a century. 21 people have been killed so far this winter. just two fewer than all of last winter.

carter evans has that story. >> reporter: this snowmobiler's cell phone video captures his desperate attempt to climb out of the snow after an avalanche saturday. it barrelled down this slope in utah's uinta mountains. [ bleep ] >> reporter: no one was hurt, but they say it was a miracle everyone made it out alive. >> i heard hunter yelling, and here he is. you okay, bud? >> reporter: on the same day, four skiers died in another avalanche in mill creek canyon, utah. four survivors dug themselves out and were flown to safety. they're the latest in a slew of devastating avalanches in the u.s. three died last week in alaska, and four were killed over the last several days in colorado in two separate slides. karl birkeland studies avalanches. he says climate change is complicating efforts to predict when and how these slides can happen. >> in an area, say, for example, where we tend to always see dry snow avalanches, we might see more wet snow avalanches. and this really creates challenges for avalanche forecasters and for others who

work to mitigate avalanche danger for the public. >> reporter: his advice -- get the proper forecast, gear, and training before you hit the

when you humble yourself under the mighty hand of god, in due time he will exalt you. hi, i'm joel osteen. i'm excited about being with you every week. i hope you'll tune in. you'll be inspired, you'll be encouraged. i'm looking forward to seeing you right here.lyipped for the race that's been designed for you.

super bowl lv is now just a happy memory for fans of the tampa bay buccaneers, but a life-changing event for some of the 7,400 heroes given tickets to the game. we asked four to document their journey. here are their stories. >> my name is sharon alvarez. i'm icu manager in tennessee. >> my name is dr. christopher brown, and i'm a hospitalist for the university of kansas health system in kansas city, kansas. d patients.

>> my name is patty keller. i'm a registered nurse at buffalo general in buffalo, new york. just finished working 12.5-hour night shift. i took my masks off, and i call these my war marks. >> hi, my name is tony neal. i'm a patient service specialist in the department of mental health for baylor scott and white. >> what position do you play? >> water boy, whatever they need me to play. >> my name is belinda spahnfrom, i'm part of the team in advent health. >> you've been a source of strength during this pandemic, the work you do is nothing short of remarkable. >> here we come, tampa, for super bowl lv. >> just finishing up all the packing, and last thing in is my titans jersey. ma this crazy. tama bay.

there we go. hey! we made it through security. >> what's it like -- >> here's brady's pass -- it's gronkowski! [ cheers ] >> yay! ♪ >> it warmed my heart to know that people appreciate us during such a hard time. i will never forget this. i will hold it in my memories forever. >> this is something that i will never forget. that will go down in history as being one of the greatest moments and opportunities that i've ever received in my life. >> true american heroes.

and that's the "overnight news" for this tuesday, for some of you the news continues. for others, ♪ it's tuesday, february 9th, 2021. this is the "cbs morning news." trump on trial again. the second impeachment trial of the former president begins today. what to expect as lawmakers clash over whether he provoked the deadly capitol riot. water supply hack. how someone tried to poison an entire city located near the super bowl. dramatic plunge, a driver survives after skidding off a ramp and falling 70 feet on to the highway below. well, good morning, good to be with you. i'm anne-marie green. so, the second historic impeachment trial of former