anti-union propaganda. they did say, that we don't believe the union represents the majority of our employee's views. employees chose to work at amazon because we offer some of the best employment available. the white house insists the president was simply showing support for all unions. >> we don't comment on specific cases. >> reporter: but union officials say his message was clear. >> for the workers at the warehouse in alabama, there was no question that president biden was speaking to them. >> reporter: stewart is thepresident of the retail wholesale and department store union. >> the importance of the video is that it's telling workers that no matter how much your employer is trying to intimidate you. no matter how powerful your employer may be, the president

of the united states has your back. >> reporter: presidents traditionally take pains to not wade in to union disputes. but mr. biden campaigned on a very clear platform. >> i made it clear to the corporate leaders, i said i want you to know i'm a union guy. >> reporter: one important note on the timing of all this, this is the week when the president's proposal minimum wage hike is officially falling apart on capitol hill at least for now. he is facing criticism for position i progressives who wanted him to fight harder. the massive winter storm that devastated much of the nations causing trouble in jackson, mississippi, much of the city still has no drinkable water. >> reporter: eddie mitchell has been coming to the distribution

site for two weeks to get the jugs filled with water he can't even drink. >> we don't wash dishes with it or nothing. >> the 75-year-old veteran is among thousands in jackson about to enter the third week without full access to water. >> there's such desperation, some drivers seeing this spouting pipe pulled off a busy road to fill buckets. the entire city, who's residents are 82% black is under a boil water notice. the unprecedented mid february freeze strained jackson's aging system. dozens of pipes burst. charles williams is the public works director. what is the status of getting water back to the people in the city? >> well, we feel like a majority of the city has received water pressure back. so that is a good thing. but, we are concerned about our residents who live fartherestity away from the plant. >> city lead aers say it could cost more than $2 billion to fix the infrastructure.

in a city, with a 300 million dollars budget. communities nearby dealt with similar out acknowlages after st jackson is the only mississippi city struggling with water weeks later. >> the city was not prepared and there was no warning about there not being water. it just stopped working unexpectedly. >> reporter: summer williams, eight months pregnant wants definitive the answers for her growing family. >> i'm due soon and only thing on my mind is how i'm going to handle it when the baby gets here. >> reporter: as the city works to repair water main breaks, jackson's mayor says, they need help from the state and federal government to update the system is. but the people we have talked to here say they need a different kind of help. they feel like they are not seeing the mass distributions of drinkable water that they have seen in other

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>> reporter: the enemy, avalanches. the sun valley ski patrol uses explosives to test the snow pack on the mountainside. it's one way scooter gardner, the head of snow safety for the resort keeps his guests safe is. >> our ultimate goal is on give the skiing customer as much skiable terrain as possible, that is as safe is as possible. >> reporter: to the unaware, it may seem over kill. >> this is all avalanche terrain to the left? >> yes, so it's a fine line. >> reporter: but to the ski resorts the threat of avalanches is a real part of mountain life. these snow mobilers got caught in an avalanche last month in utah. >> heard hunter yelling and here he is. you okay, bud? >> all the snow is, is a

horizontal reputatresentation oe season's weather. >> reporter: to understand the danger you have to dig a little deeper. the more readily this slides off, that's going to show poor bonding between those layers. >> reporter: since the start of the pandemic, enrollment in avalanche classes by sun valley guides has more than doubled with people looking to safely get away in to america's wild and rugged back country. mountain guide chris marshal walks students through the basics of search and rescue. terrain management, and critically how to the read layers of snow, like a geologist reads sediment. >> when you have snow that looks like sugar and you canouhe naked eye, these are facets. >> reporter: snow scientists say

climate change has heightened avalanche risk. throughout much of the west, there was heavy fall snow followed by drought. that formed a weak layer, which was then buried under several feet of snow. prime conditions for the most dangerous type of avalanche. >> what we call is slab avalanches. a cohesive plate of snow, like a magazine sliding off of an inclined table. >> reporter: bruce was the head of the utah avalanche center for some 30 years. before retiring in 2015. >> 93% of the time that avalanche is triggered by the victim, or somebody in the victim's party. means we ce,e oid avalanches by not triggering them. >> reporter: as a young member of the ski patrol in montana, he was warned to stay off of a slope that was a notorious

avalanche path. not that he listened. >> in the first thing that happens, it feels like somebody pulls out the rug from underneath me is and i flop down on the snow and it just pulled me down hill. >> reporter: he credits managing to grab a tree with saving his life. >> and i felt like i was underneath a water fall getting pounded to death, suddenly i was tumbling down the slope going head over heels and all over the place, hat, mitt ens gone, skis gone, and i mean, snow was going everywhere. down my underwear, under my eyelid will -- eyelids when it came to a stop, i was buried up to my chest. >> reporter: it often feels like water, but when it comes to rest, it sets like concrete. had he been fully buried he might have had only about 15 minutes to live. >> one of the really important miss conceptions is that you can dig yourself out if you get

buried. because of how it flows when you are buried the snow is compacts and it's really, really hard. >> reporter: ethan green is the director of the colorado avalanche information center. >> it's going to be one of the worst years in a long time. i'm hoping it's not going to be this worst year. >> reporter: in fact, the week of january 30th was the worst week for avalanche fatalities in the u.s. with 15 dead and the season is far from over. >> you know, it's a pretty amazing natural hazard in that, you have a person that goes across a snow slope, and release maybe thousands of tons of debris that goes rolling down the hill. one of the accidents we had this last week, the avalanche itself, the break in the snow was over 3,000 feet wide and that is

triggered by a person. >> that sort of risk taking can now have legal consequences. in are facing wreckless endangerment charges for risking a road. >> do you generally shut down public lands? >> typically we don't do that. part of our culture in the united states and certainly in the western united states has a high degree of value on freedom and personal responsibility. so, these are our public lands. they are there for everyone to enjoy. and that's a wonderful thing for all of us to have access to. and with that, freedom to use the lands comes the responsibility to, you know, take care of ourselvesnd takee ofhe other people in our communities. >> so, viewer be wear. if you are pushing the boundaries, you are on your own. >> it's kind of like asking what do i do if i get in a car wreck?

you know, and the answer is, there's not much you can do. these things are really, really dangerous, and by the time you have triggered

how dcan you repay somebody who gave you a second chance at life? how about returning the favor. >> reporter: the animal refuge in new jersey is a shelter of last resort. meghan brinster runs the place. >> our purpose is really to take the ones that don't have anywhere else to go. and that was saidy. >> reporter: sady was a big g german sheppard, and she was turned away. but brian myers adopted her. >> i thought, let me give this dog a chance, she is beautiful

and i felt i could work through her issueissues. >> reporter: so you felt you were saving her? >> yes, i was lucky to have her had the night i had the stroke. when i stood up, i fell straight down. >> reporter: brian lives alone. >> and my cell phone was over there. >> reporter: so sadie was his only hope. >> i grabbed her collar and she pulled me out of this space here. >> reporter: pulled him all the way across the room to his phone. >> as far as i know, she has never been trained as a service dog or anything. >> reporter: how do you explain it? >> i can't. >> reporter: meghan thinks she can. she said rescue dogs are often incredibly loyal. >> you have a dog who has lost something, all the dogs have lost a family, a person, or they nver had that. when they make that connection, you are their world. >> reporter: brian said sadie does the constantly track him

and she was at her post when he needed her most. >> reporter: he was rushed to the hospital and spent a couple of weeks in the treatment and rehab. and just before his release, he got a visitor. a very grateful visitor. >> she just immediately jumped on me and was kissing my face and knocked my glasses and mask off and i just thought, i love this dog. >> reporter: and you don't need to be dr. dolittle to hear s is adie reply, i love you too. steve hartman on the road. >> good girl. >> reporter: in new jersey. >> this is her favorite spot. >> and that's the overnight news for this wednday, for some of you, thehe news continues. for others, check back later for cbs this morning and follow us online all the time, at cbs news.com. reporting from the nation's capitol.

it's wednesday, march 3rd, 2021. this is the "cbs morning news." high expectations. president biden moves up the timeline to vaccinate every adult as two states lift all covid restrictions. deadly california crash. 13 people are killed after an suv and tractor-trailer collide. why it's now a federal investigation. voting rights challenge. how a supreme court case could how a supreme court case could impact future elections. captioning funded by cbs good morning. good to be with you. i'm anne-marie green. we're going to begin this morning with breaking news overseas. at least ten rockets targeted an

airbase in western iraq this