crisis in syria. the deadly crackdown intensifies as does the pressure of-on-the regime. super spak support. if you can't beat them, join them. they reverse their decision on super pacs. and stunt shocker. a misplaced cable brings a sudden halt to a circus motorcycle act. captioning funded by cbs good morning, everybody, and thanks for joining us. i'm betty nguyen. well the syrian city is under siege again this morning. residents and activists say at least 95 people were killed

monday by forces loyal to president bashir assad. the city has become a stronghold during the 11-month uprising against the government and in that time an estimated 5,000 people have been killed throughout the country. and on monday in a move to step up pressure on assad's regime, the united states closed its embassy in damascus and britain recalled its ambassador. fighting in homs has intensified since the weekend. 200 people were reportedly killed on saturday. rebel forces say they have taken control of several neighborhoods throughout the city. >> reporter: this area is all your area? >> yes, all my area. this one, this one, this one, the government cannot come. >> the outbreak of violence in homs comes after russia and china vetoed a resolution that backed an arab plan calling for assad to step down. >> mr. president, the united

states is does gusted that a couple members of this council continue to prevent us from fulfilling our sole purpose. by removing the diplomats from syria, the united states is signaling it no longer wants to engage with assad's reseem. president obama remains steadfast that assad must go. that sentiment was echoed monday by britain's foreign secretary of state. >> there is no way it can recover if credibility or internationally. there's no plans to try to topple the regime, leaving little protection for the opposition fighters from the government forces. russia's foreign minister is scheduled to visit damascus today. he says russia is pressing assad's government. now to politics.

a challenge of course if president obama's campaign. it's asking its fund-raisers to support. meanwhile republican voters have three presidential contests today. susan mcginnis is in washington with more on that. good morning, betty. mitt romney is hoping to further solidify his status in all three states, but while he was campaigning, rick santorum was business hammering these three states today and he could make a difference. he kept his focus on president obama last night at rally. but today romney may need to worry more about a surprise challenge from rick santorum. while romney leads the gop pac in colorado, new polling shows santorum holds an edge heading into today's caucuses in minnesota. the former minnesota senator

also has a chan of beating romney in missouri where newt gingrich isn't even on the ballot. >> i think we need a very big change. >> today's contest won't award any delegates but a win could still give the candidates a beat. to compete with the gop, the obama campaign is shifting its position on political donation, now encouraging its top fund-raisers to give freely to democratic super pacs. two years ago president obama criticized the supreme court in the state of the union address for stripping away limits on the campaign contribution. >> the supreme court reversed a century of law that i believe will open the floodgates for special interests. >> but a recent report shows republican super pacs are bringing in five times more money than democratic ones. president obama's campaign is defending its position saying the stakes are too high to play by two different sets of rules. meanwhile the democrats say they plan to hold hearings whether

the gop super pacs are violating federal law that bans super pacs. meanwhile it's reported that the o campaign is returning $200,000 linked to a mexican casino owner. the report says the money was raised by two chicagoans. cardona skipped bail back in 1994 and has been tied to mexican drug dealers. today a federal appeals court is expected to rule on california's same-sex marriage ban, proposition 8. opponents argue the ban violated civil rights. proposition 8 was approved in 2008. it was struck down in a federal court appeal. the case is likely headed to the u.s. supreme court. we're learning more about that house fire that killed the husband and children of missing utah woman susan powell. authorities say an ax was found

near the boys' bodies which was apparently to wound the boys. their father, josh powell, sent e-mails minutes before the fire but never mentioned his missing wife. we have more. >> reporter: cell phone video shows flames raging through this home after it blue up. inside the police found bodies of josh powell and his two sons. powell's wife susan has been missing since 2009. investigators say they believe powell had been planning the fire for some time. they found two five-gallon gas cans inside the house, one near the body. boxes of toys and books and donated them to the good will sometime over the weekend, so this was definitely a deliberate planned out event. >> reporter: the home exploded after a social worker brought the children for supervised visitation with their father. powell was a person of interest in his wife's missing persons case. the children lived with susan powell's parents who say the

boys were reluctant to visit their father on sunday. >> they seemed to be losing interest in going to see him. >> reporter: a judge denied powell's custody on sunday. he sent several e-mails to his pastor and family telling them how to handle theirhis affairs e the house exploded. in the final note he said i'm sorry, good-bye. >> it's senseless, the slaughter of two children. >> reporter: they're remembering what happened the night their mother had vanished. they had gone camping, their mother had been in the trunk, later their mom and dad walked out into the desert and mommy got lost. >> reporter: firefighters will cyst through the home to try to piece together the final moments of the young boys' lives. the american aid worker rescued by navy sales in somalia last month says she is healing

and is grateful for the support. in a statement issued from her virginia home, jessica buchanan said, i am humbled by the dedication of president obama and those in the american government who planned and orchestrated my rescue, and by the bravery and heroism of the soldiers who risked their lives to carry it out. coming up on the morning news, dozens of states sign up for a landmark foreclose settlement. plus, high wire the. look at this. some man runs into some big trouble at a circus. first, though, scott pelley has a preview of tonight's cbs news. >> their children's public school is failing around they're demanding change. we'll tell you about a controversial law that givens parents the power to take control of their children's education. that's tonight on the "cbs evening news." tifying. plus, i have advanced pharmacy systems that keep accuracy high, along with training and other benefits,

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a motorcycle stunt in

michigan went horribly wrong. it happened sunday. look at this. right there. during a performance in saginaw. the biker hit the cable and crashes down about 25 feet. someone had apparently failed to remove the cable before the ride. josh broke his leg, wrist, elbow and shoulder. after his recovery, he says, he plans to continue his daredevil stunts. well, the "cbs moneywatch," all eyes on ben bernanke today, and red box teams up verizon in a major movie deal. ashley morrison is here in new york with that and more. good morning, ashley. >> food morning to you, betty. in overseas markets they sank and hong kong's hang sang was also flanlt. concern over grease's default, the dow lost 17 points while the nasdaq fell 3. more than 40 statement i states have signed on to a settlement deal. the deal would force the banks to reduce home loans for about 1 million homeowners. the lenders would also have to

send checks of about $2,000 to hundreds of thousands of people who lost their homes to foreclose. the landmark settlement was reached after the lenders admitting to abusing foreclose practices. fed chair ben bernanke goes before the senate budget committee today. he will be asked to assess the state of the economic recovery and the impact the european debt crisis may have on the u.s. economy. bernanke will also discuss the federal budget and whether the fed will keep its interest rate at record lows. congress will be talking taxes today, specifically the payroll tax cut that was the center of debate at the end of last year. a joint economic committee holds hearings today on how to extend the cuts for a full year. democrats and republicans are split on how to pay for the tax breaks. the committee will also discuss extending unemployment insurance. and netflix is getting some more competition in the video streaming market.

verizon is partnering up with video rental red box to start an online service. there'll be an option for customers to receive dvds. there's no word on what the service will be called or just how much it will cost. betty, customers will let you know. >> red box is only a buck, so if you can stream it into my living room for a dollar, there you go. >> they have another customer. this year's oscar nominees met for lunch in beverly hills from brad pitt to melissa mccarthy. the who's who of hollywood was there yesterday. 150 stars in all attended academy awards meal. they'll meet again at the oscars on february 26th. good luck. straight ahead, your tuesday morning weather. and in sports, super bowl champs new york giants are already celebrating today's big ticker tape parade. lisa's new normal hi jamie. here's my activia video. love this stuff.

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here's a look at the weather in some cities around the country. new york is sunny, 50 degrees. miami, 81. chicago, snow showers there, 35. it's going to be sunny in dallas, 58. cooler in l.a., but 62 degrees there. time now for a check of the national forecast. the latest satellite picture shows a swirling mass of clouds gathering over the nation's heartland. a storm front in the pacific is moving in over the west coast and it's clear over the ohio

valley. plus, another system is coming up from the gulf heading toward the south. in sports, fans of super bowl champs, the new york giants, are getting ready to celebrate big time. a huge ticker tape parade is planned this morning here in no, along the canyon of heroes. yesterday a water canyon salute greeted the giants' plane after it lanled at newark airport. on the flight, the team got the party started. ♪ i got a raise ♪ he got one too yes, they did get a ring. even more when thousands of fans greeted the giants when they pulled into metlife stadium in new jersey. today's ticker tape parade will be the second one for eli manning. he and mickey mouse were cheered by adorning fans in disney world. then he appeared on the late show with david letterman. he and dave talked about ahmad

bradshaw's game-winning run. >> i told him, hey, don't score, don't score. >> wait a minute. you're handing him the ball and at the same time, don't score. okay. so now he knows -- he understands -- he understands the situation. >> right. i think, you know, at first he's just degree something had to pop h in his head, something's wrong here. >> eli's big win is helping him score off the grid iron. experts say he could earn as much as $14 million in endorsement deals. and the new england patriots aren't commenting about supermodel gisele bundchen's super bowl rant. s she she's tom brady's wife. the insider.com says, quote, my husband cannot [ bleep ] throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time. all right.

in basketball, the lakers' kobe kept on hitting jumper. passing to former teammate. but lou williams had the hot hand for philadelphia and helped spoil kobe's big night. the sixers take them down. and in england fur was flying during a soccer game, the four-legged kind, that is. a cat ran out on the field and delayed the match for a couple of minutes. eventually it was picked up by a steward and it didn't take long before the feline intruder had several twitter pages, one with over 14,000 followers. when we return, another look at this morning's top stories, and parent outrage at a los angeles elementary school where the entire staff will be replaced amid a teacher abuse investigation. maybe you can be there; maybe you can't. when you have migraines with fifteen or more headache days a month, you miss out on your life. you may have chronic migraine.

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here's a look at the weather

in some cities around the country. washington, d.c., mostly sunny, 58. it's going to be mostly sunny in atlanta as well, 62 there. detroit mostly cloudy, 38. cloudy in denver, 25, and foggy in seattle, 50 degrees there. here's another look at this morning's top story. the syrian city of homs is under attack again this morning. activists say at least 95 people were killed yesterday in the government crackdown. u.s. has closed its embassy in damascus and britain has recalled its ambassador. and authorities investigating the house fire that killed the sons of missing utah woman susan powell say the boys were attacked with a hatchet. josh powell, the boys' father also died in the blaze, which police say he deliberately set. there is more fallout from the sex abuse scandal at a los angeles elementary school. the entire faculty has been removed while the district conducts an investigation.

thea came after about 100 angry parents protested yesterday outside the miram oonte elementy school saying their school is not safe. >> my child cannot speak for himself. each though there are ott kids that would like to speak out, they can't or they're afraid to. >> i feel upset or angry that we're not getting responses that we need, you know, answers to our questions. >> teacher mark bart was arrested. and then mark springer was allegedly arrested for alecedly fondling two girls. jury selection resumes today in the trial of george huguely. he's the former university of virginia lacrosse player accused of killing his ex-girl friend. huguely was in a charleston court yesterday and pleaded not guilty to murdering her. he says the two got in an gult

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how you doing? >> good. good. a light snow event tomorrow. should be pretty. not too much in the way of problems. right now let's talk about today. today you can expect sunshine. temperatures will be running into the 40s here. again near 50 by noon. as we head toward the afternoon, we'll be in the low, maybe mid-50s. if we can get the right winds going today with the highs again 50 to 55. showers well south of town. this morning that is cleared out. skies clear to partly cloudy. temperatures anywhere from a balmy 45 here in washington, 42 pax river. la plata is 40 but down to 30 in frederick. where the skies are clear and the winds have gone calm, temperatures are good. this afternoon should be fairly comfortable with highs in the low if not mid-50s out there. we'll talk more about tomorrow's little system when i see you coming up during 9news

now this morning at 4:35 and 6:00. right now over to monika. good morning, everybody. it's that construction from overnight, especially on the west side of the town. i know they're in the process of clearing it up. at least by 5:00 it should all be gone. on the inner loop of the beltway and the exit ramp to route 7, that's where you want to watch out. you're squeezing gi to squeeze by over to the right -- by to the right to get by that. if you're planning to head over to 95 on the northbound side watch out. you don't need to watch that. things look great at duke street. everything good in landmark to the 14th street bridge and we'll take you over to the north side of the town. no problems to report on 270 with the exception of the construction southbound at old georgetown road and that should be clearing up shortly as well. coming up in my next report, more on area roadways. at 4:39.

back to you, mike and an dry ya. -- and andrea. we're following breaking news out of prince george's county. five people including three children are in critical condition after being overcome by carbon monoxide. >> the family was found unconscious in their fort washington home in maryland. firefighters were sent to the home. this is in the 8300 block of bernard around 12:30 this morning. doctors from children's national medical center called them after treating a young child from the home who was brought in afternoon evening. after performing blood work, they found high levels of co in the child. they called medics after getting no answer at the home. the ages range from infant to 18 18. gary nurenberg reports a

latest case of corruption in disk government has legitimate unemployment beneficiaries furious. >> reporter: some washingtonians got the news standing outside the department of employment services. >> the greed. >> reporter: paid government workers filing claims for and collecting unemployment checks. $840,000 in fraud government wide. >> a variety of agencies were still going through the list to try to determine. there were multiple agencies. >> never, never be on employment. before i lost any job, i worked 20 years, eight years for one company, 12 years for the other company and i was kind of guess statemented when i lost my -- devastated when i lost my job. >> reporter: but when she applied for benefits, she found someone stolen her identity causing a storm of paperwork and a continuing fight to get her unemployment benefits from d.c. >> i'm waking up every day going outside to see if people took my card yet because they're going to repossess the truck because i can't pay