that not a single state scored above prepandemic levels in both reading and math. that's despite nearly $190 billion given to schools and federal pandemic relief funds. mohammed karoma teaches english language arts at cramer. what kind of gaps still exists? >> we're still trying to fill in the gaps they didn't get at the lower levels. because it's hard to grapple with an eighth grade text if you're on a lower reading level. >> reporter: so a lot of the kids didn't have that foundational experience? >> indeed. >> reporter: in a study out today from harvard, stanford and dartmouth cites a widespread rise in absenteeism, especially in high poverty districts. >> the biggest thing is just get them inside the building. once they get in the building, learning is going to happen. >> reporter: but the study found some bright spots. more than 100 local school districts are performing better in math and reading than they

were before the pandemic. public schools in d.c. aren't there yet, but over the last two years, d.c. ranked first among states in terms of recovery in math and reading. katrina shelby is the principal at cramer. so how did you do it? >> i started thinking maybe i need to think about this differently. how can we make classroom sizes smaller, but give kids more opportunities to get remediation during the school day. >> reporter: that includes what they call high impact tutoring, which was successful in other districts too. so this is kind of like having a private tutor, but inside your classroom during school hours. >> correct, yes. absolutely. so it's just like to a tutoring resource place, but here it's free to the students. it's free to the families. >> reporter: d.c. also invested some of its pandemic funds in more teacher training, giving thousand dollars stipends to some who completed courses.

success, says principal shelby, breeds success. >> giving kids support in literacy and support in math didn't just impact how we were able to grow literacy skills, we also were able to reduce truancy by 20%. in one year. >> reporter: so they were seeing their own progress in realtime. >> yes. in realtime. and it was encouraging them. >> reporter: there also a growing socio-economic gap. the highest income districts are nearly four times more likely to have recovered in both math and reading than the lowest income districts. >> that was cbs' caitlin huey-burns. now to an unexpected move in the case of a school shooting where the father of the accused shooter also faces murder charges. colin gray on the right has been in jail since prosecutors accused him of giving his son the gun used in the school shooting. mark strassmann reports on an emotional court hearing where the judge decided the father can be released before trial.

>> understand that the law does not permit me to be emotional, and i'm constrained by the law. >> reporter: judge nicholas primm told a georgia courtroom tuesday he was granting a $500,000 bond for the father of a teenager accused of opening fire at apalachee high school last september killing two students and two teachers. the judge's decision came after victims' loved ones read tearful statements. breanna schermerhorn is the mother of 14-year-old mason, who was killed in the gunfire. >> the sheer irresponsibility of mr. gray as a parent robbed my family of a chance to raise my son. >> reporter: prosecutors claim gray bought his son the ar-style rifle used in the shootings as a christmas present in 2023, just months after the two were questioned by police because the teen allegedly made online threats to carry out a school shooting.

his son denied those accusations. >> i'm telling you right now, we talk about it quite a bit. all the school shootings, things that happen. >> scary. >> you getting pick on at school? he is. >> reporter: prosecution also alleges gray knew his son was obsessed with school shootings. cbs news analyst jessica levinson. >> people might feel like why would he be granted bond, and the answer is because this isn't really about whether or not a tragedy occurred. bond hearing in georgia, they're really looking at does he pose a flight risk? does he pose a potential risk to the community? the judge thinks no. >> while in court, mr. gray is presumed innocent, in the court of public opinion, he bears a of public opinion, he bears a scarlet letter. (peaceful music) - time to get up, sweetie! (kissing) - [child voiceover] most people might not think much about all the little things you do every day,

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a toothpaste from parodontax, the gum experts. friday is valentine's day, and as usual, stores are reporting a run on roses and chocolates, and lacy lingerie. lace has been around for centuries now, and these days it's become an art form. lee cowan reports. >> reporter: as fabrics go, lace has a bit of an identity crisis. this time of year, of course, it's the stuff of valentine's day lingerie, especially red lace. but it's also the frilly stuff you likely saw at your

great-grandparents' house or the meticulous detail of an anthony van dyke portrait, or a king louie xiv fashion spread. ♪ but lace can also be perfectly modern. it could be as graceful as grace kelly or it could be the material from the material girl. >> just, i don't know, it scratched an itch in my brain that felt so right for me and i knew this was for me. >> elena kanagy-loux wears her passion for lace on her sleeve, literally. >> if you want to challenge yourself, you can pick just the white linen, but it will be more difficult. >> reporter: she is writing a doctoral thesis on lace in between teaching classes on lace-making. >> and there is your middle. >> wow. >> reporter: she cofounded a lace guild in brooklyn, where both women and men are finding lace a mesmerizing maze for the mind.

but she says lace is also pretty misunderstood. >> that's what i'm here to do is to bust some misconception. >> reporter: the most obvious live says are doilies. today we think of them as old-fashioned coasters. but elena says if you trace them back in time, doilies are hardly just a domestic trifle. >> during the irish famine, women were making and selling different lace of irish varieties to help their families survive. there were women making doilies in japanese internment camps during world war ii as a comfort to their families. >> reporter: another myth, lace is only white. while a lot of pieces from the 15th and 16th centuries has been bleached by time -- lace actually had a pretty colorful history. >> lace can be and has been made in every color, every size, massive scale down to the tiniest scale. so it really can be in any design that you want. >> reporter: there is knitted lace, needlepoint lace,

crocheted lace, wire lace, and on and on it goes, each as unique and intricate as a snowflake. >> it's very enjoyable. especially for people who like puzzles. >> reporter: but some veteran lace-makers like linda knott, yes, knott is her last name, have a secret. >> it's easier than it looks. it's a great way to impress your friends. you don't have to tell them that. >> reporter: she is one of hundreds of lace lovers who descended on franklin, tennessee, outside nashville for the annual convention of the international organization of lace, incorporated. >> hello, everybody. >> reporter: attendees came with lace everywhere, on their collars, on their hats, and in their ears. what do you like about it specifically? >> oh, the making of it. i love making it. i find a beautiful piece and say i have to do this. >> this little flower is finished. >> reporter: here there are lace styles from england, belgium, denmark and the one lone style from the u.s. >> twist, cross twist, cross.

>> reporter: and most here we found were pushing themselves to learn as many of those styles as they could. >> when you come together as a community and you have all of these people that have same interests, you just feed off of each other and see new ideas. >> reporter: allie maguccio is an elementary teacher and former school librarian from pennsylvania. she taught thousands how to make idrija lace, the signature of slovenia, a part of yugoslavia where allie's relatives were from. >> i as an american wanted to carry this tradition on in a different place. these are your bobbins. the bobbins hold the thread that you use. >> reporter: one of her specialties is bobbin lace. >> you'll catch on. i have faith. >> reporter: now, to a novice, bobbins look like a cross between mini rolling pins and a cocktail stirrer. >> take number two. put it over the top of number three. that's cross.

>> reporter: after about a half an hour -- >> that was great. >> reporter: i'll be damned. my hands caught on, even if my brain didn't, which, it turns out, happens a lot. >> you are doing a great job. >> thank you. >> reporter: kathy kaufman is another instructor who came here from chicago in hopes of sharing a joy she fears has been lost to the hustle and bustle of everyday life. >> it's dwindling, and now there are fewer people with disposable time to be able to dedicate it to. >> reporter: these are a few samples of what she has done with her disposable time. >> some of the pieces have taken me a couple of months. >> reporter: gosh. >> it isn't the fiber that gives it value. it's the hundreds, thousands of hours, years of skill and time that goes into producing these things. so it's really the human element of lace that makes so it valuable. >> reporter: in 2018, elena

kanagy-loux was commissioned by columbia law school to make this custom lace collar for the late supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg. it took her more than 300 hours in all. we've heard a lot about threads spun into gold in our fairy tales, and lace qualifies as one of the jewels of our textile history. but today maybe its real value isn't the end product, but in the twists and turns it takes to get there. >> this is a way to really slow down, connect with your body and with your community and understand, wow, i really made something amazing with my own hands. just takes a little art and industry. >> reporter: and patience? >> and patience. well, it gives you patience if you are not necessarily a patient person.

well, the next turn on the road to driverless cars is gearing up on the nation's highways. waymo is now testing its hands-free technology at 55 miles per hour. kris van cleave buckled up to see how that's going. >> so we're getting on the freeway. >> reporter: we're on the first drive on the freeway with no one behind the wheel. it's a glimpse into the future with waymo, the self-driving ride hailing service owned by google's parent company as it prepares to take riders on the freeway. >> the car stays under the speed limit, which is 65.

>> reporter: trying with us is principle software engineer pierre krietman. >> freeways are critical for waymo. that's one of the number one requests we get from riders. >> reporter: waymo already operate morse than 150,000 rides a week in california and arizona, with plans to extend to austin and atlanta in the coming months, as well as add freeway rides this year. they estimate freeway access will benefit about one in every four rides. waymo's yakimo senizaro. >> being able to be on the freed frae doing everything a human driver can do. >> you can put it this way. it's definitely a step in that direction. >> reporter: the freeway is so important because it's all about saving time. freeways are usually faster than surface streets, and that's huge when people are hailing a ride. cameras, radar and other sensors allow a car to see a full 360 degrees. what's the biggest challenge while getting the car to work on the freeway? >> probably the speed, because the speeds are so high and the mistakes are so costly.

so it's really about never making a mistake, predicting things that can go wrong. >> reporter: waymo cites its data shows in over 25 million miles driven its cars saw 72% fewer injury-causing collisions compared to hume drivers, but they are not perfect. the work now is focused on fine-tuning to get its passengers in a faster lane. kris van cleave, cbs news, phoenix. >> well, hands-free on the highways. still a little scary, but we'll see how that goes. and that's today's "cbs news roundup." for some of you the news continues. if others, tune in later for "cbs mornings," and follow us online any time at cbsnews.com. reporting from the cbs broadcast center in new york city, i'm shanelle kaul. ♪

hello and thanks so much for watching. i'm shapiro s i'm shanelle kaul in new york and here are the top stories. in a major u.s. reversal of policy, president trump says he is talking with russia about ending the war in ukraine. as the president continues purging the government, we talk with federal inspectors who say they're the last line of defense against corruption. and prices keep going up. the latest report on inflation is out, and it's not good. president donald trump says he is looking forward to negotiating with russian president vladimir putin to end the war in ukraine. trump began his day wednesday with an hour-long phone call to putin during which they agreed to begin peace talks and to meet

in person. it's a striking departure from the last three years of u.s. policy that isolated putin over his invasion of ukraine. in addition to his peace talks, cbs' erica brown reports the trump administration has now cleared a legal hurdle in its efforts to reduce the federal workforce. >> reporter: president trump says he has directed members of his national security team to immediately begin negotiations aimed at ending russia's war with ukraine. trump and russian president vladimir putin had a lengthy phone call wednesday less than two weeks before the third anniversary of russia's invasion of ukraine. >> i think president putin wants peace, and president zelenskyy wants peace, and i want peace. i just want to see people stop getting killed. >> reporter: president trump says he expects to meet with putin soon, likely in saudi arabia. the president said negotiations to end the war will begin with secretary of state marco rubio, cia director john ratcliffe, michael walz, and special envoy

steve witkoff taking the lead ahead of face-to-face meetings with putin. in the oval office wednesday, president trump also reiterated his plans to dismantle the department of education. >> oh, i'd like to it be closed immediately. look, the department of education is a big con john. >> reporter: protesters rallied against shutting it down and pushed back against trump's pick for education secretary, linda mcmahon. >> i know her sole goal is to reign over the destruction of the department and gut public education. >> reporter: in a win for president trump, a federal judge in boston allowed his administration to move forward with its federal worker buyout program as the department of government efficiency moves to revamp and shrink the size of the federal government. the trump administration says it is pleased by the decision that lets the effort spearheaded by billionaire elon musk proceed for now. erica brown, cbs news, washington. >> and part of the president's plan to purge government workers

includes getting rid of dozens of federal investigators and wat watchdogs. but critics of the president say he is eliminating the very offices that weed out people who could potentially abuse the system and harm americans. here is cbs' justice correspondent scott macfarlane. >> reporter: you're not a democrat? >> i'm nonpartisan. >> reporter: you're not a republican. >> i'm nonpartisan. >> reporter: why are they trying to take you off the playing field? >> my only guess is they're trying to impact the independence that igs have because it makes no sense. >> reporter: days after he and his federal employees were fired, head of the department of veterans affairs and others filed suit to get their jobs back, arguing they were fired for political reasons. this not only threatens missal's paycheck, but the safety of veterans and hospitals nationwide. does this put people's lives in danger? >> the work that we did protected veterans' lives and

made the health care much safer for veterans. >> reporter: inspectors general root out misconduct and safety failures impacting communities from coast-to-coast. missal recently uncovered delays in appointments for veterans including cancels appointments in buffalo by passing safety in california. republicans defend the purge. california representative darrell issa argued the fired inspectors failed to perform. >> some americans might think they're pulling a loft police off the street here. >> you take inspectors general all at once and take them off the playing field. >> well, again, the new administration is acting quicker than any other administration in modern history. but they need to be judged on who's the acting, who is replacing them, how fast they'll name those names, and will they be naming people who will aggressively look for waste, fraud and abuses. >> reporter: but the purge is not just in government. >> it's pure retaliation,

vindictiveness, retribution. >> reporter: private attorney mike zade, who represents whistle-blowers has just been stripped of his security clearance by the trump administration, making it more difficult for his potential clients inside the cia or fbi to report misconduct. >> they are pulling those away or neutralizing those who could do things against them. >> reporter: scott macfarlane, cbs news, washington. the department of homeland security has now confirmed to cbs news that it is holding nonviolent low-risk migrant detainees at guantanamo bay. the administration said it would use guantanamo bay to hold dangerous criminals or suspected gang members facing deportation. but officials have confirmed the low-risk migrants, meaning those without a violent criminal record, are being held in an area that is not the actual prison. new data out wednesday shows u.s. inflation is accelerating

faster than economists predicted a few weeks ago. for many people the price of groceries is where they are feeling it most. the consumer price index, or cpi, prose by 3% since a year ago. cbs news "money watch" correspondent kelly o'grady has been looking at the numbers. >> reporter: food prices are heading in the wrong direction, and eggs are one reason why. an ongoing bird flu outbreak is creating shortages and leading to some empty store shelves. >> that's insane. where are the eggs? >> reporter: those who can find eggs are paying much more. prices jumped 15% in january and are up a whopping 170% since 2019. consumers are not only seeing higher prices at the grocery store, but also at restaurants. waffle house added a 50 cent surcharge for eggs. lynn's restaurant outside minneapolis is doing the same. >> we felt bad, but the only thing we could do is go to the menu. and we did a temporary surcharge

of 35 cents per egg. >> it remains to be seen where we're going with inflation. >> reporter: cbs analyst jill schlesinger says rising rent and housing costs continues to drive inflation overall. and many are trying to judge the impact of president trump's tariffs on imported goods. >> if those tariffs stayed in place for a number of months, we would see prices go up and we would see the inflation rate rise. >> reporter: all this is bad news for people looking to get a loan. with prices moving higher, the federal reserve is expected to leave interest rates alone at its next meeting in march, and the fed is not likely to cut rates again until inflation starts easing. kelly o'grady, cbs news, new york. when "cbs news roundup" continues, we'll tell you why one of the most popular spring break destinations is telling party crowds to stay away this year. [vo]: fear. i love you. [vo]: confusion.

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and yours. we're with all service-members and their families who need community, connection, and maybe a bit of magic. are you with them? learn more at uso.org today. ♪

this is "cbs news roundup." i'm shanelle kaul in new york. it's that time of year again. millions of young people are planning to get out of the cold and head south for spring break. but this year, one of the most popular winter destinations is telling partiers to stay away. police in miami beach announced a list of rules they hope will stop the violence that's broken out in recent years. but hundreds of bars and restaurants wait all year for those crowds, and telling people when and where they can drink and what time they have to leave the beach can be bad for business. manuel bojorquez has the story. >> reporter: you know, not everybody here in miami beach believes getting rid of some visitors is necessarily a good thing. but city officials and many residents do feel preserving the type of calm you have on a morning like this is worth it, and they have a parity video to try to make their point. >> 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 every day you see a tourist destination urging some visitors to stay a way. >> the city of miami beach is currently under a state of emergency. >> reporter: but given the violence that has erupted on the streets in years past, including shootings and unruly crowds, mayor steven minor says it's necessary. you telling people you can't have fun here anymore? >> no. we have great beaches. we have great hotels. we have great restaurants. we want you to have fun, but you have to play by the rules. >> reporter: in a news conference, the city announced new measures including dui and security checkpoint, license plate readers, $100 parking for some public lots, and a possible midnight curfew during some busy nights in february and march. >> not only breakup is great, we

divorced them. >> reporter: miami beach say similar measures last year, the first time they were implemented led to a drastic drop in disorderly intoxication arrests, down 82%. drug offenses were down 21% from the year before. but some hot spots along south beach, like the famous mango's tropical cafe say the measures hurt businesses and their employees. >> it's devastating for business, devastating. all of our employees that are working hard you have a whole month they used to do great that now they're doing terrible. >> reporter: joshua wallach agrees something had to be done to quell the disorder, but said it's time to bring back new lawful events to make up the shortfall. >> we're on pause now you can't live on pause. we have to move forward. >> reporter: some other measures that will surely get noticed, the city reserves the right to shut down a popular stretch of beach at 6:00 p.m. if necessary, and also to restrict outdoor

sidewalk seating at some of the restaurants and cafes you see behind me along this iconic strip. >> that was manuel bojorquez on the sunny streets of miami. stay with us. "cbs news roundup" will be right back.

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surprised when they called their insurance companies. it turns out some policies do not cover natural disasters, and many of the ones that do won't reimburse policy holders for everything they lost. ash-har quraishi has the story. >> reporter: whether it's a tornado, flood, earthquake, or any kind of disaster, many of us rely on our insurance to get us through. but imagine losing everything you have in a disaster like this, but then thinking to yourself, well, at least i have insurance. as many as three and four u.s. homeowner policy holders could be underinsured. to help us understand this issue, we're talking to jennifer gray thompson, who is the ceo of the nonprofit after the fire usa. so jennifer, how do you even figure out if you're underinsured? >> the first thing you have to do is read your policy, and most of us don't do that. we encourage you to sit down or an experienced underwriter will be able to do this you. >> reporter: make your own calculations. take the dwelling amount and divide it by your square

footage. it should equal the average construction cost per-square-foot in your area. a dollar amount you can find by doing an online search for construction costs per square foot along with your zip code. what about people who are not part of the disaster right now, but they do the calculation and they find out they're not covered for any kind of natural disaster at the level they should be? >> do go to your underwriter and ask. max out on your insurance. it does cost us a little more every month, but it's incredibly important. some people won't call because they're afraid of being dropped. do not do that. >> reporter: make a list of all your possessions with their estimated value, updated annually. and make sure your agent knows about any new big purchases like julie and art. >> make sure they have also added that into their contents insurance. most people don't know that they have contents insurance as part of their insurance policy. see how much it is. >> reporter: if you're in the middle of a crisis, and you realize you're underinsured, you have some options. contact fema for possible assistance, and negotiate with your insurance company. what if you come to the

conclusion that you're underinsured, but your insurance agent says you're fine. >> ask them to actually put it in writing, something official that says you are adequately ensured. you must have it in writing and in some way you can easily access it. >> reporter: if you're worried yu might be underinsured, the nonprofit policy holders has a lot of information on i

well, about to start running in the northeast where people are looking forward to pancakes with fresh maple syrup. but it turns out the tree sap is good for other things as well, like bourbon. luke burbank got a taste. >> reporter: and there begins the old ritual of the new england spring. it's maple sugaring time again. most of us are familiar with the northeastern tradition of taking maple sap and turning it into syrup. a process once documented right here on cbs by our own charles kuralt. >> smells good. this annual harvest is all the sweeter for being a gift from the trees. >> reporter: takes 40 gallons of sap to get just one gallon's worth of maple syrup. >> it's really wonderful. >> good. >> reporter: but that was then and this is now.

at steve finnan's twelve mile creek maple farm in naples, new york, in new york's finger lakes region. >> we've verified it's nice and clear, and no we're putting it in barrels. >> reporter: the machinery is modern and the final product -- >> cheers. >> reporter: cheers. probably not what you were expecting. >> that's so good. >> it's 40% alcohol. >> reporter: this used to be sap in a tree? >> sap in a tree. >> reporter: that's right. this not your grandad's maple syrup. this is karl neubauer's tree spirits that he makes at hollerhorn distilling not far from the maple farm. >> there have been times that are pure magic where everything aligns and they are into a beautiful long run of some amazing high quality syrup that tastes phenomenal. >> reporter: neubauer combines locally produced maple syrup with water and yeast, then

distills that fermented mixture, transforming the golden nectar back into a clear liquor. >> that's the spirit that we are pulling off. >> reporter: the color comes from the barrel aging process. the labels are drawn and designed by his wife melissa. >> it's maple syrup, yeast and water. >> reporter: that's very, very smooth. >> it's really different than anything i ever tasted. now, before you at home start adding water and yeast to your maple syrup in your kitchen, just know -- >> it's a labor in energy and an intensive process. for sure. >> reporter: is it more expensive than rye? >> probably ten times the cost. you know, i feel like we need to have a few of those things that maybe don't make financial sense, but they make, you know, fun sense. >> reporter: now, if we were to measure life like a tree, you

would see some burn marks on the rings of hollerhorn. >> this survived the fire. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: tragedy struck a few years ago when an electrical fire from the kitchen consumed everything karl and his family built by hand. was there a period of time you were really not sure if you were going to keep trying to do this? >> 100%. we lost a lot of family heirlooms, personal things here. it was too traumatic to be down here and look at just a pile of ash. >> reporter: news of the fire spread throughout the town of naples and the finger lakes region. >> the community rallied behind us. i think that is the thing that pulled us out of sort of our own self-misery. >> reporter: customers immediately swung into action to raise money for and rebuild the treasured local gathering place. >> it's been an honor to be able to make things that people appreciate. [ cheers and applause ]

>> i get choked up because it's more than a distillery, you know. it's a community space. and i think we need that. >> reporter: in a fitting twist, what did survive the fire has now been marked by a phoenix. a symbol of rebirth for this tight-knit community. ♪ >> reporter: who knows? if this tree spirits thing takes off, there may be a new maple harvest ritual to look forward to each year. just probably not one you want to put on your pancakes. >> my favorite distilleries are ones that represent that place. you taste the magic of that place, and that's what we're trying to do. ♪

it's thursday, february 13th, 2025. this is "cbs news mornings."