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hello and thanks for staying up with us. i'm matt pieper in new york, and here are the top stories on "cbs news roundup." firefighters in los angeles are racing to make progress against wildfires that have destroyed thousands of homes and killed at least 24 people. forecasters warned of new fire danger with the return of powerful so-called devil winds while president-elect donald trump criticized california's political leaders. and lawmakers on capitol hill will this week begin considering trump's key cabinet nominees. the national weather service is issuing a red flag warning for fierce santa ana winds expected in southern california later this week, calling them particularly dangerous in light of last week's powerful gales that created those wildfire infernos. there are three active wildfires, the biggest being the palisades fire at more than 23,000 acres. and now we're learning tens of thousands of people who were forced from their homes by the fires will not be allowed to return until at least thursday. for the very latest, we turn to

cbs' laura hafely in los angeles. >> reporter: firefighters are racing to make progress against the deadly wildfires that have obliterated home after home in parts of los angeles county. the battle continues as forecasters learn of new fire danger this week with the return of powerful winds. >> this wind event is approaching us, and it's approaching us very, very quickly. >> elevated critical fire weather conditions will continue through wednesday. we stand alongside all of you as we begin to plan for the repopulation of evacuated areas. >> reporter: avanti persona grew up in the palisades. >> it's still heartbreaking, even if your house is there to know -- what i always thought was one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in los angeles is just gone. >> reporter: heavy winds in the coming days are expected to present serious challenges for firefighters, especially in the area of mandeville canyon, a major gateway to iconic and

populated places ss in los ange like the getty museum and ucla. like so many other residents she found her palisades home turned to rubble. >> and now returning, this is what's left. everything is decimated. the town is decimated. >> reporter: california firefighters are joined in battle from eight other states, mexico and canada. laura haefli, cbs news, los angeles, california. >> many of the people impacted in los angeles are just coming to grips with the enormity of their loss, and that includes hundreds at a beachfront mobile home community that was destroyed in the palisades fire. we get perspective from all this from cbs' maurice dubois. >> from up here you get the scope, the scale of the disaster. there is not much to see for beverly, a retired attorney. >> i'm at a loss. i don't know what to do. >> reporter: the firestorm took what was her affordable beachfront paradise, a mobile

home park of 170 homes tucked between ultra luxury mega mansions. now she faces what so many do, uncertainty and near total loss. >> you know, whatever i owned is gone. i know it's stuff. but it's things that were really important to me. >> reporter: she walked three miles to where her trailer home once stood, searching for any signs of her old life. and you found some really valuable stuff. >> yeah, i found -- these are sobriety coins, because i'm in a 12-step program, and it was important for me to find them if i could, because some of them are brass and/or enamel. >> reporter: orion is not alone. married neighbors charlie gee netty and abigail hercules search for her wedding ring, one she designed, sifting through the ash. >> that's really all i'm looking. >> reporter: the rest of everything that's in the house feels easily replaceable. >> reporter: for now, all many can do is hope and try to heal.

what are you going to do now? >> there is a lot of distraction right now. i'm just trying to do one day at a time, because i don't know what's going to happen or where i'm going to be. >> reporter: maurice dubois, cbs news, los angeles. prk donald trump is making his opinions known regarding the wildfires, and on sunday he calls officials battling the wildfires incompetent, asking why the flames were not yet extinguished. tom hanson has more on the rising political tensions. >> reporter: a county-wide crisis igniting. >> there is a serious lack of confidence in governance in california. >> reporter: governor newsom is now pressing back against donald trump's claim that there had been no water for some fire hydrants. last week there were allegations of low water levels hampering the response. >> the reservoirs are completely full. the state reservoirs in california. that misinformation i don't think advantages or aids any of us. >> reporter: at a press

conference mayor karen bass downplayed talk of a growing riff between local officials and the incoming. >> how concerned are you there is a lack of communication between the city of los angeles and the incoming trump administration? >> there isn't a lack of communication between the city of los angeles and the incoming trump administration. i have spoken with representatives of the incoming administration. i'll be talking more about that in the coming days. >> reporter: in a letter, l.a. county supervisor kathryn barger extended an invitation of her own to the president-elect and urged the administration to consider financial assistance for the communities affected. >> i look forward welcoming president trump to our communities so he can see the desperate need. >> reporter: tom hanson, cbs news, california. turning now to washington and the confirmation hearing for trump's cabinet beginning this week. among them, pete hegseth, his embattled defense secretary choice will be crscrutinized.

natalie brand reports from capitol hill where senators will have their first chance to publicly question the nominees. >> reporter: more than a dozen of president-elect trump's selections to run the nation's top agencies will take the hot seat on capitol hill with a flurry of confirmation hearing starting tuesday. that includes trump's controversial choice to lead the department of defense, former fox news host pete hegseth who has come under fire for allegations of sexual misconduct, excessive drinking, and financial mismanagement while leading a veteran's adversas after group. >> we need a qualified individual in that job and he does not seem to have the conversations. >> reporter: democratic senator mark kelly who sits on the armed services committee says he wants hegseth's fbi background check to be made available beyond the city's leaders. >> so i think it's in the nominee, mr. hegseth's best interests if he wants to be confirmed for this job for us to have all the information. >> but he certainly has the

qualities that we need to lead the pentagon. >> reporter: with republican senators holding 53 seats, majority whip john barrasso was asked on cbs' "face the nation" whether hegseth has the votes. >> every senator gets to speak for themselves, and they will do that. the meetings have gone very well. things are heading in the right direction. >> reporter: senator tommy tuberville of alabama is planning a rally monday afternoon with a group of navy s.e.a.l.s and veterans to try and rally support around hegseth ahead of his confirmation hearing. natalie brand, cbs news, capitol hill. when "cbs news roundup" continues, we'll check the traffic on the streets of new york one week into the nation's first congestion pricing charge. stay with us. aj: multiple studies have shown that marijuana can slow both driver reaction and response time... which can be really dangerous! he's here, he's here! connor: wait, wait, wait! aj: what? connor: i can't drive. aj: what, why? connor: i'm high.

aj: oh. ♪♪

when i'm hungry, my stomach hurts. i get sad and scared. i feel all alone. i don't think anybody cares. i want to shut my eyes and disappear. [female narrator] 1 in 5 children in the u.s. can't be sure where their next meal will come from. but together, we can do something about it. feed the children provides struggling families with the food and essentials they need. for hungry kids who need help, you can make the difference. donate today at feedthechildren.org. ♪ this is "cbs news roundup." i'm matt pieper in new york.

president-elect donald trump returns to the white house next week with a long list of priorities from tax cuts to the border to trying to buy green land from denmark. trump recently put another issue in his crosshairs, new york city's new congestion pricing program. this first-in-the-nation tax on drivers took effect last week. how's it going? mo rocca reports from the streets of the big apple. >> reporter: new york traffic -- excuse me, i'm walking here, i'm walking here! i know, you've heard that line before. >> hey, i'm walking here, i'm walking here. >> reporter: but by some measures, new york's traffic is more congested than it's ever been. enter congestion pricing. since last sunday, during most hours, cars crossing into the lower half of manhattan are charged $9. there's a higher toll for trucks. 1400 cameras keep tabs on the roughly 150,000 commuters entering the zone by car. >> if we can just impact on a

proportion of those people, we can make a difference and make it a much better place for everyone. >> reporter: janno lieber heads the mta, the metropolitan transportation authority, which runs new york's sprawling subway, bus and commuter rail systems. >> we're wasting a ton of money, literally billions of dollars according to our business leaders having people stuck in traffic. >> reporter: the haul from congestion pricing will go largely to the mta to improve mass transit. >> that means we're going to raise somewhere between $500 million and $800 million a year. >> reporter: the pricing idea began in 1952 and gained traction in the early 2000s. but there have been a lot of bumps in the road. >> contest the pricing now! >> reporter: and lawsuits and protests for and against. >> no more tax on -- >> reporter: new jersey drivers were none too happy. >> it feels to me like it's a punishment. >> reporter: they already pay more than $15 in bridge and

tunnel tolls to get into the city. singapore began congestion pricing in 1975. stockholm in 2006. but new york based its plan on london's. opponents in new york say this is just a cash grab, another tax that will hurt mainly working people. how long have you been driving a cab in new york? >> over 40 years. >> reporter: john mcdonough is a playwright and radio host and not a fan of the plan. >> it will not reduce congestion here. the street signs of new york now we have a bus lane on one side. we got a bike lane on the other, concrete barriers. so ten cars gives you congestion. >> reporter: but the money is going to go to public transport and that helps everybody. >> oh, it does? we had a woman that was burned on the subway. we have people being pushed on the tracks. there is robberies. if you take the subway in new york, jumping the turnstile is a

public sport. >> reporter: it's called turnstile jumping, or more politely fare evasion. the mta projects it will lose eight million a year because of it around the same congestion pricing may bring in. 47% of people taking the bus aren't paying. >> people quit paying on the bus fares, et cetera. the mta has installed cameras so they can catch people. they're providing police. even the national guard is in our system to make sure people pay their fare. >> reporter: kathy wild is president of the partnership for new york city, which mobilizes a business leaders to help the city thrive. she's a long-time advocate for congestion pricing and has advice for other american cities. >> you have to explain the benefits clearly. you have to have transit options in most cases. otherwise it's just another tax because if somebody has no choice, they're going resist. >> reporter: so other cities maybe have to work on that

first? >> the lesson from london, they put in 200 new bus routes before they turned on congestion pricing. and that was how they got the public to accept it. they had a choice. >> reporter: it's hard to tell how it's working after a week, but -- >> we're very excited that in just a few days of congestion pricing, we're seeing a significant reduction in traffic already. >> reporter: yet the battle may not be over in new york. among its opponents, once and future president donald trump. kathy wild isn't worried, though. >> president trump has property in new york. he i'm sure has been stuck in traffic more than few times here. and having new york be a more productive city, i think he'll appreciate it. >> that was mo rocca hey, i just got a text from my sister. you remember rick, her neighbor? sure, he's the 76-year-old guy who still runs marathons, right? sadly, not anymore.

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been able to replicate the error. that's small consolation to those affected. david schechter reports. >> reporter: if you receive an evacuation order, please leave immediately. if you receive a warning, get ready. >> reporter: when wildfires ignite, its local emergency managers and law enforcement who send evacuation alerts to a community. new technology in l.a. county draws these alert polygons who determine who gets the message. >> if you're in the polygon, you're going to get an alert. >> reporter: lisa is with ge genasys. the computer algorithm defined the zones. it considers population density, hazard areas and how people can get out. >> having the predefined areas really speeds up that process of defining the area that's being evacuated and then communicating that out to the public. >> reporter: for example, on wednesday morning, as the eaton fire approached, people living in this polygon in the padsaden

area got a message to evacuate. but we wonder why the boundary line goes right down the middle of the road. >> why is a street one side is alerted and the other side not alerted? >> reporter: some of these things make natural firebreaks. some of the footage we've seen really illustrates that well where you have one side of the street that is backed up to a tree-covered hillside that is very flammable, and the other side of the street is concrete parking lots. >> reporter: in some previous wildfire, there was hesitation sending widespread alerts. craig fugate is a genasys board member. >> when i'm looking at maps and trying to figure out where i evacuate, how far do i go, which direction do i go. >> reporter: he believes this new technology helps alleviate that. do i don't think ultimately that saves lives? >> well, that's our hope. and i think it lowers the barrier that we saw for some emergency managers who are always concerned about overwarning and creating more problems with too many people hearing the evacuation than

aren't at risk jamming up the roads where people couldn't get out. >> reporter: a next step will be assessing whether alerts in l.a. gave people enough time and information to protect themselves. i'm david schechter.

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the los angeles school district is the second largest in the nation, and the ongoing wildfires have thrown the school year into chaos. 600,000 students had their classes interrupted last week. it's still unclear how many schools will open monday morning, but more than a dozen hav already burned to the ground. that leaves thousands of kids with nowhere to learn when classes resume. lilia luciano has that story. >> reporter: in altadena alone, almost 2,000 students have nowhere to go to school now. it's hard to make sense of the rubble, but this is the remains of what was the auditorium of a magnate middle school in altadena, one of many that have been completely destroyed. here we've seen parent students, and alumni show up and stare in

disbelief. just a mile way, that is the shocks some fair oaks academy students were experiencing today. where is your classroom? >> right there. >> reporter: 7-year-old lucy can't wrap her mind around losing her school. when you close your eyes and you think about your school, what are you picturing in your mind? >> i'm just really saddened, because i loved that school. >> reporter: what did you love about it? >> i loved my friends there. i loved my teacher, i loved the playground and p.e. >> reporter: she says evacuating her home felt like a bad dream. >> i was really scared. i mean, it was in the middle of the night when it was happening. so i'm a little bit scare to have had dark. >> reporter: when 10-year-old hudson and his 7-year-old brother atticus evacuated -- >> we were sitting at our dining room table, and we could see the glow of the fire over our courtyard wall. >> reporter: hours later, their firefighter, saw their home engulfed in flames. >> that's my house right there. >> oh, no. i'm so sorry.

>> we're trying not to show some of the images because it would be so heartbreaking. >> reporter: why are you sad? >> because i love going to school. >> school is a big part of it because that's really where -- it's the foundation of a family's daily life. and now we don't have that anymore. >> reporter: as for where those kids who lost their schools will go, it's still too soon to know. >> lilia luciano reporting. "cbs news roundup" will be right back.

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it's monday, january 13th, 2025. this is "cbs news mornings." fire threat high. winds intensify in los angeles