>> john: welcome to "cbs evening news plus." i'm john dickerson. president trump vowed to lower prices on day one. on day 23, the labor department

reported that inflation went up last month. we'll look at what's keeping prices up and whether the president's policies will bring them down or, in the case of tariffs, push them up further. the fragile cease-fire between israel and hamas appears to be coming undone. the exchange of israeli hostages for palestinian prisoners is on hold. president trump threatened hamas that all hell will break loose if all hostages aren't released by this saturday. that may turn out to be a prophecy. chris livesay in tel aviv speaks to the mother of an israeli hostage about what the standoff means for her son. our in-depth focus tonight is on a catholic school district in new york city where math and reading scores re improving. a break in the nationwide trend. meg oliver learns the secrets to its success. those stories and more right after our news headlines. ♪ ♪ >> we want to end that war. that war is a disaster. >> john: after deciding the fate of gaza without consulting the palestinians,

president trump is launching a similar gambit for ukraine. the president says he and vladimir putin have agreed to begin negotiations to end russia's invasion of ukraine. defense secretary pete hegseth meanwhile told u.s. allies in europe that restoring ukraine's borders and the prospect of ukraine joining nato are unrealistic. the senate voted 52-48 to confirm tulsi gabbard as director of national intelligence despite questions about her lack of experience. senator mitch mcconnell of kentucky was the lone republican to vote no. gabbard, who refused to call edward snowden a traitor for stealing classified documents, will now oversee such documents and the nation's intelligence agencies. and yet another major storm is spreading snow and ice from the central plains to the great lakes and into the northeast overnight. and as heavy rain moves into the west, there's a threat of mudslides in southern california.

♪ ♪ if it felt like you were paying more to feed your family or get to and from work last month, today's report on january's consumer prices proved you right. wall street couldn't shake the news of an unexcited increase in inflation with the dow and s&p ending in the red. add to that a looming threat for president trump to impose more tariffs on imported goods and you have a recipe for economic uncertainty. so let's turn to martin baccardax, street" to help sort it out. martin, good to be with you aga. first give me your read on the inflation numbers, what you took away and what it might mean for the future. >> i do believe it caught wall street on the back foot initially. when we dug into the numbers, it began to make sense. there is a reset from pricing in

january that tends to fade in the corresponding months afterwards and of course we have the rent and hospital services and auto insurance and other things driving prices up. you mentioned tariffs and that uncertainty, and this is where wall street is undecided. we're not sure what the trajecty is going to be and how quickly it might accelerate prices and y >> john: what have you made martin, so far about president trump's efforts to get at prices? we know presidents can't do much. on the other hand, it was a topic of the campaign. what do you make of his policies so far? >> he already seems to be walking back on that pledge doesn't he? he said it's more difficult than you might imagine. it's a very difficult message to spread when you're looking at eggs prices rising in the fastest in ten years and they could rise faster if this avian flu is a different strain or

a more lethal one. america will be looking to import most of its eggs from canada which of course is under threat of tariffs beginning the month of march and of course in the crosshairs of the president with regards to the trade surplus it runs with the united states at the moment. >> john: final question. ford motor ceo says just the threat of tariffs is causing chaos in the car market. how do you see those tariffs on steel and aluminum affecting the market and companies that use those products? >> we may already have seen that in the january inflation numbers because you can imagine the president who has been talking about tariffs for the months into his election, it's not unreasonable for companies to put prices up in advance of those because of the uncertainty of the timing and the length. we are seeing some evidence of that. the ford ceo is one of the most vocal to talk about what it could do to the auto industry. he did placate the president by saying he does believe he wants to protect the auto

industry but the integration of it within the new north american free trade agreement would the president himself renegotiated in 2018 makes it very difficult to absorb those tariffs and not disrupt supply chains. >> john: martin baccardax from "the street." absorb those tarit disrupt supply chains. >> john: martin baccardax from there are troubling signs the cease-fire deal between israel and hamas is coming apart. there are now concerns that the remaining hostages will not be released and military action in gaza could return. chris livesay is in tel aviv for us. chris, president trump said he wants all hostages out by noon on saturday. how has >> reporter: well, it's certainly having an impact. netanyahu was very quick to take his cue and make a similar ultimatum to hamas. he said release the hostages by saturday or war or will resume. israel in the meantime is readying its forces in and around gaza and hamas is digging in for a fight.

we effectively have a three-way game of chicken, and we have until saturday to see if one of them will flinch. of course hanging in the balance, you have the fate of 76 hostages and some 2 million palestinians. >> john: you spoke to the mother of one of those hostages who had her hopes placed on this fragile cease-fire deal that was carefully worked out. what has her reaction been to the state of things? >> reporter: well, on the one hand, she's elated because she just found out that her son is possibly still alive. one of the hostages who was released last weekend was able to tell her that. on the other hand, they shared that they were shackled, burned and starved when they were in captivity, just like her son is now in captivity. now she's faced with the prospect that a renewed war might imperil her son's life. here's what she told me.

>> do you worry that war is going to start again? >> of course, yeah. i'm worried about it. when there is war in gaza, we hurt. and we know some of the hostages were killed because of the war and our military is, what they are doing in gaza. so i'm afraid. i'm scared. >> reporter: she told me how worried she is also about the condition he's in right now especially after having seen those last three hostages and how emaciated they looked. and then told about how they were tortured while they were in hamas captivity. >> john: chris livesay in tel aviv. thank you so much, chris. in the coming weeks, the city of miami beach will face the tens of thousands of spring breakers who descend upon the beaches often with the reckless. cbs's manuel bojorquez is in miami beach where the police have a plan to keep the peace.

>> how are you guys doing? >> what's going on? >> you're drinking in public. that's not allowed. >> reporter: in a video called "reality check," the city of miami beach shows actors finding out the new spring break rules may spoil their trip. >> worst spring break ever. >> reporter: it's not everyday you see a tourist destination urging some visitors to stay away. >> the city of miami beach is currently under a state of emergency. >> reporter: given the violence that erupted on the streets in years past, including shootings and unruly crowds, mayor steven meiner says it's necessary. are you telling people you can't have fun here anymore? >> no. miami beach is a city of fun. we have great beaches, great hotels, great restaurants. we want you to have fun but you've got to play by the rules. >> reporter: in a news conference, the city announced measures which include dui and security checkpoints, license plate readers, $100 parking for some public lots, and a possible midnight curfew during some busy nights in february and march.

>> we didn't only break up with spring break. we divorced him and got a restraining order against him. >> similar measures last year, the first time they were implemented, led to a drastic drop in disorderly intoxication arrests, down 82%. drug offenses down 21% from the year before. some hot spots along south beach like the famous mango's tropical cafe say the measures hurt businesses and their employees. >> it's devastating to business. devastating. all of our employees that are working hard, you have a whole month they would do great and now they are doing terrible. >> reporter: the city says its breakup with spring break remains. manuel borgess, cbs news miami beach. >> john: now three things to know. a military plane crashed in san diego bay today. security camera shows it plummeting into the water. both pilots on board safely ejected and were rescued by a

fishing boat. officials are investigating the cause of the crash. mount kilauea is erupting again on hawaii's big island. it's one of most active volcanoes in the world. now it's blasting lava than 300 feet in the air above the volcano's summit crater. no homes are threatened. ♪ come on, baby, let's do the twist ♪ >> john: chubby checker, mariah carey, cyndi lauper among the nominees for the rock & roll hall of fame class of 2025. other nominees include outkast, phish, the black crowes, oasis, bad company, billy idol. more than 1200 artists and other members of the music industry will decide who makes the cut. inductees will be announced in april. when "cbs evening news plus" returns, we'll discuss the art of a hostage deal in our interview. we will talk to a former top diplomat about negotiating freedom with the russians.

♪ ♪ ♪ >> john: the white house confirmed today another american being held in russia was released as part of a negotiation to free her and two others from belarus. this comes after the release of an american teacher, marc fogel, who touched down on u.s. soil last night after being in a

russian prison for nearly four years. these negotiations are often years long diplomatic affairs and in tonight's interview, we talk to roger carstens, who has president biden's chief hostage negotiator knows it better than anyone. let's start with brittney griner, whose release you helped negotiate. how difficult was that? >> i would say probably the phd level of hardness. you are dealing with another country that doesn't necessarily want to release them. they're using a person for leverage. that was the case with brittney griner. we often say the other side holds the keys to the jail cell and our job is to painstakingly try to find out what's it going to take to get that american free? brittney was faster than most. paul whelan, that took years to break that logjam in order to get paul home. we were grateful to see paul come out of russia and i'm certainly glad to see trevor reid released in the last

48 hours. >> john: when you hear about the most recent releases, you've worked with the russians. we don't know quite what they got in return but they probably given your experience, they didn't get nothing. >> there are reports they'e got a gentleman by the name of mr. vinnik who might be going in the direction of russia right about now. he's someone who's been on our radar screen for quite some time. a long time ago when we were trying to determine how to get americans back, the first thing we did was look at our jail system to see who the united states was holding, what they were charged with, and how long they had served their senses. vinnik, if he's the guy, has been on the radar further sometime. you are right, the russians are probably going to get something out of it. the one thing they maybe try to get along with venezuela and belarus is to generate goodwill with the new president, president trump. >> john: you've negotiated with a host of different countries. do the russians have a particulr

process, are they a particular puzzle? >> they say every case is different and they really are but i would say overall the russians, they pretty much decide what they want early on and try to stick with that. it's very hard to take them off their game. that's just something that's peculiar to them. they're very tough. they are also very willing to send a signal or two and that's something that i would say is unique. it wasn't hard to figure out the brittney griner was going to be used for leverage because they pretty much signaled very openly that she was arrested and going to be used for leverage and that's kind of helpful. there are other countries i can think of that don't really communicate in that way and you spend a lot of time trying to figure out what it is the other country wants and whether someone is being used as a bargaining chip or not. >> john: i've always wanted to know, when you're in these negotiations, are you just talking business? is there yelling? how does it carry out in these tense moments? >> the ones i've been involved with, if anything, i tried to show up with every part of my being. i tend to be humble,

i tend to listen. at the end of the day, they probably had a slew of diplomats take the knife and point it at their chest and yell at them for their human rights record and how horrible and brutal they are. that's not my mission. my mission when i was negotiating is to try to build a relationship and bring those americans home. so i found that in showing up with a little bit of humility and listening to what they had to say, it often got me closer to my objective than had i gone in yelling, shouting and screaming at the other side. >> john: roger carstens, think you so much for being with us and for your work. >> my pleasure. >> john: there's more to come on "cbs evening news plus." plus this story. >> i'm meg oliver in brooklyn, new york, the nation's report card reveals another decline in student reading levels but in this district, the opposite is happening. that's next

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>> john: when it comes to the academic assessment of the nation's students, the report card says "needs improvement." scores in reading and math are already on the decline before their pandemic but remote learning made it worse. in tonight's "in-depth," cbs's meg oliver looks at the problem and what one school district is doing to fix it. >> reporter: two years ago, 13-year-old liam seminara was struggling in school and transferred to st. joseph in brooklyn looking for a change. how do you feel when you're coming to school every day? >> tired. yeah. with algebra, i have to wake up early. but i like school a lot. >> reporter: that change paid off. the eighth-grader is now testing above grade level. he's a member of the robotics team and is a passionate reader. do you read a lot? >> yeah, way more than i did. >> reporter: new data shows

scores nationwide in reading have dropped five points since 2019. the pandemic didn't help. now only 30% of eighth graders across the country are proficient in reading. here in the diocese of brooklyn, almost 70% of students in eighth grade are thriving in both english and math. deacon kevin mccormack is the superintendent. did you have to change the way you were teaching? >> we had to change the way we were thinking. >> it started precovid when they noticed a decline in scores. the district implemented new strategies including specialized coaches that monitor teachers like sophia demartino to make sure lesson plans are effective. how does the coaching help you teach them? >> my coach is so wonderful. she helps to support me. i feel like, i'm not sure about this lesson, can you help me and she will tweak it. instead of doing xy, do za. then i go to do it and it works perfectly. >> reporter: they also tailor

instruction to each student's skill level by breaking into small groups. how do they teach you different >> we all learn the same stuff like the same subject. what happens a lot is smaller groups are taught that subject in a way that it's easier to learn for them. sometimes it's also just the whole class. >> reporter: what's your biggest concern if students at this age don't learn to love reading? >> it is a huge concern and it can have disastrous effects. my kids want to go into the nfl and things like that, you need to be able to read your contract and really understand the tricky language they can be in a contract. >> reporter: a third of students in this district receive financial aid. tuition and fund-raising pay for the new programs. could this be a model nationwide for schools? >> i think it can be. first of all, everyone is welcome. that's the key point. the second part is we accept the kids for where they are and bring them to where they can be.

>> reporter: a possible lesson plan that just might pass the test. meg oliver, cbs news. brooklyn. >> john: when we come back, a lesson in owning your mistakes and the double standard on being held accountable for them.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> john: a key question behind elon musk's remake of the federal government is whether he's moving so fast the baby might get thrown out with the

bathwater. "if you are not failing, you're not innovating" he has said in the past. this is known as design thinking. try something, fail, fix it, move on. but if you feel too big? it's the difference between turning the steering wheel and throwing the steering wheel out the car window. that tension was on display tuesday when musk admitted a story used to justify the sweeping government cuts was wrong. >> some of the things i say will be incorrect and should be corrected. nobody is going to bat 1.00. we'll make mistakes but we will act quickly to correct any mistakes. >> john: the mistake? a claim that $50 million in condoms had been sent to gaza. trump inflated it to 100 million. the error seemed to be a mixup between the gaza strip and gaza, mozambique. but that too was wrong. mozambique receives 5.4 million in contraception for hiv prevention but not condoms.

not hamas, not gosnell, not mozambique, not condoms, not 50 million. if contrary to musk's claim, there was no move to quickly correct. two weeks have passed but the demonstration did move very quickly when someone pointed out a mistake that would actually waste taxpayer dollars. the inspector general of the usaid pointed out that the effort to close the department have been so rush that 500 million in food taxpayers had already paid for was at risk of spoiling. that mistake was corrected. one day later, the inspector general was fired. and that's tonight's "cbs evening news plus." thank you for joining us. i'm john dickerson. good night. area, nba all-star festivities getting underway in san francisco. we're going to show you how the city is going all out to welcome visitors from around the globe. right now a powerful storm is approaching the coast, set to

bring heavy downpours and dangerous winds to the bay area. when you will likely want to avoid the roads. by the time i got home, it had been 55 minutes. my commute is normally only 13 minutes. >> and we'll hear from sonoma county residents trying to navigate a washed out road from the last storms. how it's impacting -- how it is impacting one of the region's most important industries. plus, you'll get to meet a san francisco artist fighting to bring back the culture he says was lost during the dot com boom. >> it destroyed the inner culture, the music, the poetry. we begin with a major storm arriving in the bay area this evening, bringing a threat of flooding, down trees, and a whole lot of problems out on