well, one lucky winner in california just became a billionaire. the winning ticket for yesterday's $1.22 billion jackpot was sold in california. with sacramento, it is the fifth largest in megamillions history. the largest prize ever, $1.6 billion. as for who won, all we ♪ tonight, travelers beware. dangerous storms thunder across the south, impacting millions. tornadoes in the forecast. dozens of them. >> i'm katie weiss in alexandria, louisiana where deadly storms are rolling across the region. we'll show you the latest

conditions. also tonight, a passenger train slams into a fire truck. more than a dozen injured. authorities are investigating what led to the crash. >> i'm cristian benavides in del rey beach, florida where eyewitnesses say it sounded like a loud explosion. the holiday rush to return home. on the roads and in the sky. >> i'm carrie corrado at newark international airport in new jersey with details on possible speed bumps as millions are on the move this holiday weekend. russian president vladimir putin apologizes for a christmas day airline crash but fails to take responsibility for it. plus, caught in the crossfire. >> i'm holly williams in tel aviv. this winter in gaza many are living in tents and the cold is claiming the lives of newborn babies. mega rich. california has a new billionaire after beating nearly impossible odds. and later, making fast food

faster. >> what would you like to order? >> i'm danya bacchus in irvine, california where ai has the right recipe for one restaurant chain. >> announcer: this is the "cbs weekend news." from new york, with jericka duncan. good evening and thank you for joining us this saturday. it's a stormy last weekend of 2024 and possibly a rough one for millions of americans getting home from christmas. this is katy, texas as a new round of devastating tornadoes ripped from texas to georgia, and there's been at least one death so far. cbs's katie weiss is in alexandria, louisiana about three hours northwest of new orleans and leads us off tonight in the bullseye of the storm. katie. >> reporter: well, good evening, jericka. here in alexandria, louisiana the storm has just hit us. the winds have picked up. the temperature has dropped. the lightning and thunder has intensified by the minute,

really. and the rain has just been getting heavier and heavier. an outbreak of tornadoes is tearing through the south tonight. >> that's just crazy. you can see some debris just flying around. >> reporter: the severe weather thundering across texas. pounding areas with high winds and large hail. >> oh. >> reporter: omar godoi watched a tornado barrel toward his houston home. >> we just started seeing debris just turning and then out of nowhere you just see the funnel just come down and just touch ground. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: this new round of powerful storms comes after more than two dozen reported tornadoes struck communities in texas, louisiana, mississippi and alabama since christmas day, damaging homes and other buildings and downing power lines. >> that's all you hope for. all the neighbors and families being okay. especially around this time of the year. it's scary. but we survived.

>> reporter: now, the severe weather is far from over. residents across the region from here in louisiana over to alabama are expecting, bracing for what will be likely a very long night. jericka? >> all right. kati weis, thank you so much. let's check in with cbs news meteorologist andrew kozak for more on this dangerous weather. >> jericka, this evening we are tracking a very powerful storm system across the deep south responsible for over two dozen tornado reports just since last thursday. it's a very common setup with warm moist air coming off the gulf of mexico, the cold air wrapping behind it and of course the clash of those two air masses giving us that moderate 4 out of 5 risk this evening. that moves further east as we head into the day on sunday. we'll be tracking severe weather from florida up to the carolinas and southern virginia. warm across the northeast tomorrow. the midsection of the country nice and quiet. and if you like some skiing, well, we have more snow for oregon and over toward washington. over 100 inches of snow.

take a look at mount bachelor ski area in oregon. they have the highest snow depth of any area in the country right now with more on the way. of course we're watching that tonight but most importantly those powerful thunderstorms across the deep south. if you're an area that has a warning make sure to keep those phone devices charged and get to shelters immediately. jericka? >> good advice. andrew kozak, thank you. tonight authorities in florida are investigating a crash between a high-speed commuter train and fire truck. it happened at a rail crossing in del rey beach. at least 15 people were hurt. cbs's cristian benavides is there. cristian, what are you learning tonight? >> reporter: jericka, the train tracks have been cleared and at this point officials are just trying to remove whatever's left of the wreckage. all of this happened in the middle of a busy nightlife district. and now investigators are trying to figure out what went wrong. witnesses in del rey beach, florida say they heard what sounded like an explosion nearby.

cell phone video from inside the train shows the aftermath of when a passenger train collided against a fire truck this morning, splitting the truck in half. 12 train passengers and three firefighters were sent to the hospital. the fire chief says firefighters may have been responding to an emergency nearby. >> we did have a concurrent call for service just prior to this incident. whether they were assigned or released from that assignment i don't have that information at this time. >> reporter: zoe wexler owns a coffee shop across from the tracks. she saw someone crawling out from the wreckage. >> i couldn't tell what it was. i just saw something really big and i saw somebody climbing out, then people just all started rung down there and coming back and telling us that it was a fire truck and it was insane. >> reporter: the crash happened near a busy shopping and dining district. this family was eating breakfast. >> it sounded like a building was falling. it like crashed. and there was like ska boom. >> reporter: officials did not say how fast the train was going at the time, but bright line

trains can reach speeds up to 125 miles per hour, making it one of the fastest in the country. the fire chief says it's still unclear whether the guardrails were down or if the fire truck tried to go around them. in florida trains have the right of way, even with passing emergency vehicles. jericka? >> cristian benavides, thank you. well, if you are using this weekend to get home after christmas you have company, as you can imagine, on the roads and in the air. this is the misery map from flight aware for good reason. it shows more than 7,000 delays at airports nationwide today and more than 700 cancellations. dallas-fort worth seeing the worst of it. cbs's carrie corrado is at new jersey's newark airport. carrie, what are you seeing where you are? >> jericka, well, right now it's calm and passengers hope it stays that way. but earlier today holiday travelers dealt with some speed bumps in the air and on the

ground. here at newark airport holiday travelers are battling long lines, crowded terminals and weather interruptions. for many it's been stress-free. >> it hasn't been busy. the roads have been wonderful. >> reporter: but for others like this woman there have been speed bu bumps. surveillance video shows her exiting a plane and climbing out onto the wing. aaa predicts 119 million people are traveling through new year's day. 9 of 10 on the roads, an estimated 8 million in the air. many racing home to beat the bad weather including storms in the south, ice and snow in the west. >> this is very wet snow and even my car, i have snow tires but when it's wet like that, like underneath even my car's going to be sliding a bit. >> reporter: in new jersey a massive sinkhole on busy interstate 80 created a traffic nightmare. it was caused by an abandoned mine shaft. road crews working around the clock to fix it. some good news for drivers. gasbuddy.com says gas prices are at a three-year low, but that will not last. >> gas prices will likely start going up, especially in mid to

late february when demand goes up. >> reporter: travelers just want to get home. >> it's been hectic. you know, since it's after christmas. so a lot -- my flight was delayed. but i am actually really grateful. >> reporter: and tomorrow is expected to be the busiest. as for the holiday, each holiday this year it is breaking records. so we'll see what next year brings. >> all right. kerri corrado, thank you so much. well, after three days of silence russian president vladimir putin today apologized to azerbaijan for the christmas day crash of a passenger jet over russian airspace. 38 of the 67 people on board were killed. but putin did not take responsibility for the crash. aviation experts and u.s. officials believe a russian air defense missile mistakenly downed the jet. well, president joe biden has made mediating a cease-fire deal in gaza a top priority for

his final week in office. at the same time cbs's holly williams in tel aviv reports that the situation in that territory is growing more desperate. holly. >> reporter: good evening. the last major health facility in northern gaza, kamal adwan hospital, is now out of service, partially burnt and destroyed following a raid by israel's military. that's according to the world health organization. israel claims the hospital was being used by hamas. now, the world health organization also says, and this is a direct quote, "the systematic dismantling of the health system in gaza is a death sentence for tens of thousands of palestinians." israel has strongly denied that it is deliberately trying to destroy the healthcare system in gaza. in the gaza strip 2024 has been an entire year of war. a year of loss.

grief. and anger with the outside world. for standing by as the airstrikes rained down on this shattered patch of land. with nearly the entire population displaced and many living in flimsy tents this winter the people of gaza are facing a new adversary. the biting cold. at nasser hospital a cbs news team filmed medics treating babies for hypothermia. dr. fida al nadi says they admit one or two cases every day. the very youngest are the most vulnerable. >> many children are born prematurely and this predispose him more to hypothermia. >> reporter: mahmoud al fassa buried his daughter silla this past week. she died of hypothermia at just three weeks old.

"i went to wake her up for breastfeeding and she was frozen and blue. she was bleeding from her nose," he said. "her heart had stopped from the intensity of the cold." holly williams, cbs news, tel aviv, israel. well, president biden is also pushing to get new aid to ukraine before he leaves office. next week he's expected to announce over $1.2 billion in military munitions to the country. the u.s. has provided $60 billion to ukraine since russia invaded three years ago. well, tonight the small town of cottonwood, california, population 6200, just might be home to the world's newest billionaire. that's where the winning ticket of last night's mega millions lottery was sold. the jackpot, $1.2 billion. the odds of winning, just 1 in 300 million. that's a lot of money. straight ahead on the "cbs weekend news," speeding up fast food. how ai is changing how you place

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>> reporter: nationwide, just 4% of drive-thrus use the tech technology. >> we built it to be very friendly and interactive as if you are talking to a human. >> reporter: ai is said to cut the wait time for an order by 29 seconds and improve accuracy. >> i tried switching things up on how i want my burrito or natural oeds made, it caught it within a matter of seconds. >> reporter: taco bell says its robots help employees by handling repetitive tasks. >> this isn't about technology trying to replace our team members. it's actually how can technology create an even better human experience? >> reporter: other fast food giants have struggled with adopting ai. >> where did the butter come from? i would just like a large water and a cup of ice cream. >> reporter: mcdonald's recently scrapped its nearly three-year test run after incorrect orders and viral customer complaints. >> for some reason she took the diet coke off and made it nine sweet teas. >> reporter: to avoid similar pitfalls taco bell is pushing to

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he was 94. and now look at what could be the internet's next viral sensation. look at this photo here. weighing in at just 15 pounds, this is what the metro richmond zoo in virginia says it got for christmas. the baby pygmy hippopotamus is endangered with an estimated 2,500 of them remaining in the wild. the baby will have her name decided in an online poll. voting is open until tuesday with the winning name announced new year's day. next on the "cbs weekend news," back in the saddle. how horses are helping people with physical challenges. r mine. my active psoriatic arthritis joint symptoms held me back. don't let symptoms define you... emerge as you, with clearer skin. with tremfya®, most people saw 100% clear skin... ...that stayed clear, even at 5 years. tremfya® is proven to significantly reduce joint pain, stiffness, and swelling.

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olay body wash & lotion. discover yours. it has been 2,400 years since hip ok rah tooeds, often referred to as the father of modern medicine, suggested that horseback riding could help boost physical health. cbs's charlie demar reports on using horses as healers. >> and slide. >> thank you. >> reporter: at the legacy ranch outside of chicago getting back on the horse has a whole new meaning. >> i have a high level of determination. so if i want to do something i'll die trying. >> back up. >> reporter: u.s. air force captain anthony simone. >> up. >> reporter: did almost die

while deployed in afghanistan. >> that's my bird. that's what i was shot down in. >> reporter: his helicopter was shot down in 2010. simone was one of two survivors. but he suffered a traumatic brain injury. >> had you ever been on a horse before? >> no. >> reporter: recovery from such severe injuries was painfully slow. searching for therapy, simone turned to horseback riding. >> whoa. >> and up. good. >> reporter: and says he regained some use of his paralyzed left side. the horse-powered therapy at the legacy ranch -- >> can we go ahead and walk on? >> whoa. >> all righty. >> good boy. >> reporter: helps people with mental, occupational and physical challenges. >> in my grief this became my passion project. >> reporter: founder and ceo sandy sandy molesky started it in 2017 after her father and best friend died months apart. swaney was murdered while on a

horseback riding vacation. >> i need tord myself to move forward. i have two young kids. there are things that happen around these nimds that is unexplainable. >> reporter: just ask alessandra moreno's mom judy. >> it's almost like somebody flipped a switch and there's parts like connecting that weren't connecting. >> reporter: moreno was born premature and lives with a number of disabilities including down syndrome. >> did you think that this was possible? >> it just gave mether a lot of pride, and i think that pride and that confidence gave her the tools that she needed to say i can do this. i'm going to try to do this. >> reporter: a stride toward healing. >> saying good-bye to everybody. >> reporter: charlie demar, cbs news, lockport, illinois. >> well, that is the "cbs weekend news" for this saturday. before we go, you've heard the saying it takes a village. well, we'd like to take a moment to thank everyone involved here

in the u.s. and around the world who put this broadcast together every single weekend. i'm jericka duncan. have a good night. ♪ just hear those sleigh bells tingling ♪ ♪ ring ting tingling too ♪ ♪ come on it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you ♪ ♪ outside the snow is falling ♪ ♪ and friends are calling yoo-hoo ♪ ♪ come on it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you ♪ ♪ giddy up, giddy up, giddy up let's go ♪ ♪ let's look at the show ♪ ♪ we're riding in a wonderland of snow ♪ ♪ giddy up, giddy up, giddy up it's grand ♪ ♪ just holding your hand ♪ ♪ we're gliding along with a

wintry fairy land ♪ ♪ our cheeks are nice and rosy and comfy and cozy are we ♪ ♪ we're snuggled up together like two birds of a feather would be ♪ ♪ let's take that road before us ♪ and sing a chorus or two ♪ ♪ come on it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you ♪ ♪ sleigh ride together with you ♪ >> from cbs news bay area, this is the evening edition. >> a power pole destroyed, the side of the house smashed, and neighbors say it isn't the first time. a high surf advisory is in effect this weekend as we brace for more rain.

a statewide emergency is declared, the latest on the aviation flu and how authorities are responding. >> another round of wet weather is on the way to the bay area, this is time-lapse, video of clouds over downtown san francisco just before sunset and after sunset, more rain will be on the way. and a high surf advisory until tomorrow morning, at ocean beach, people are being told to stay away from the coast. >> this was a very good day for those time lapses, watching the clouds being pushed over the marin headlands as the sunlight came in and illuminated that, it was a really pretty day. we want to talk about what is going on on this map, i have a flood watch on