>> cowan: tonight, tropical storm isaac targets the gulf coast with forecasts it could flex into a dangerous category ii hurricane. manuel go and mark strassmann are both in isaac's path. >> the republicans are set to take center stage in tampa, even as isaac scram tbls gop's schedule, we will talk to bill whitaker, jan crawford and john dickerson amount that. tampa has one of the highest homeless rates in the nation. we will show you what the city is doing to help them build a new life. and their name translates to man of the forest. john blackstone on the fast disappearing orangutan. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley.

>> cowan: good evening, i am lee cowan, tropical storm isaac tonight is battering the florida keys, it is primed to power up to a dangerous category ii hurricane in forecast a hit to florida's panhandle all the way to louisiana, including the new orleans, some time on wednesday. that would be the seventh anniversary of hurricane katrina. right now, isaac stretches more than 200 miles from its center, with top sustained winds of 60 miles per hour, today president obama alerted fema to get ready to help states in the path of that storm and louisiana has already declared a state of emergency. we begin our coverage tonight with manuel bojorquez in key west, manuel, good evening to you. >> good evening, lee, the worst of tropical storm isaac passed over the keys this afternoon, but officials here in key west say the night could still be dicey, with the continued risk of squalls, conditions like we are seeing right now and the potential for high waves from the south. as isaacs winds lashed across key west, pat and lieu pailer

hunkered downing to ride it out on their boat. >oat. >> actually it wasn't as bad as i thought it would be, i thought it would be more nervous. >> residents who did not heed warnings to leave are now adviced to stay off the roads and indoors. the port and airport have shuttered and police are on stand by for whatever may come. >> always a concern when you have storms at night. you never know what you are going to wake up to. >> tropical storm effects could be felt as far as 200 miles from isaac's core, in places like miami, where more than 500 flights were canceled and 8,500 people lost power today. >> these weather conditions would persist throughout the evening and into early tomorrow morning. it is important for the residents and visitors to remain indoors. >> isaac wreaked havoc in haiti killing seven people before skirting the northern coast of you with a cuba, now it goes through the keys. he says he is ready. >> i like some adventure, like

driving down the freeway, you get in an accident, you are not going to do it. >> emergency management operations here are -- emergency management operations here are now being scaled back as the threat from the storm moves to other parts of the state, so far, there are no reports of major damage here, but officials say they will make a full assessment in the morning. lee. >> cowan: all right, manuel, stay safe. thanks. meteorologist david bernard is tracking the storm at our cbs miami station wfor tonight and david, this is really shaping up to be a potentially quite bad. >> well, we have seen the situation, lee, many times unfortunately, when you have these tropical storms or hurricanes coming out of the florida investigates like isaac is this afternoon and moving into the southeastern gulf of mexico, potentially becoming a dangerous hurricane, now right now, it is about 40 miles southwest of key west, 60 miles per hour winds moving west northwest at 16, our future track is forecasting this to be a category i hurricane near the

mouth of the mississippi river by tuesday afternoon, and venue negligent potentially to a category ii as strong hurricane of landfall wednesday afternoon along the gulf coast can be anywhere from southeast louisiana and then as far west potentially as pensacola in florida, and of course as we mentioned that entire area is under a hurricane warning. there is the possibility the storm could even be a little stronger than is forecasted now. we really won't know that until about the next 12218 hours once it is over the open wears of the gulf. >> cowan: all right a lot of folks taking notice. david bernard, thanks. as you saw from the storm projects, alabama is one of the states in the danger ozone and mark strassmann is in louisiana. mark, what is the the situation there? >> lee, mobile is one of seven major metro areas along the gulf that could be threatened by isaac, by one estimate $36 billion worth of residential property could be at risk. >> from florida's west coast to new orleans, 14 million

residents are bracing for isaac, louisiana governor bobby jindal declared a state of emergency. >> make sure you have a game plan and follow the advice from your local leaders and paying attention to the changing weather conditions, especially from the national weather service. >> oil rigs out in the gulf began evacuating late last week, 3,500 of them could be at risk. as isaac could make landfall tuesday night. on the eve of katrina's seventh anniversary. in that epic disaster, 80 percent of new orleans was underwater. but since then, the city's levees and flood walls have been rebuilt and fortified in a $14 billion overhaul. >> and mobile county, alabama, residents of vulnerable dolphin a island are filling, dolphin islands are preparing. >> we are getting the house ready to be boarded up in case it comes this way. >> and in case isaac comes to louisiana, state officials have suspended collecting tolls on

some roads to speed evacuations and, lee, officials have also called a 4,000 national gard guardsmen in louisiana and notified other states that could need help. >> cowan: thanks a lot, mark. because of that storm it is going to be an abbreviated national public convention, national republican convention, good evening to you. >> good evening, lee. the port here has been closed. the airport is still open. the latest tracking has isaac passing far west of tampa, but the republican party is take nothing chances. >> inside the tampa bay times forum, republican party planners continued with convention preparations. party chief priebus says pushing proceedings back a day is being prudent. >> obviously you can't be assured what would happen on monday if you had a full arena and then couldn't get people out of here, so i mean, it is an obvious choice, safety first. >> outside the convention site at hotels scattered around

tampa bay, delegates the around the country were preparing for the the arrival of the uninvited guest, isaac. >> for folks who have never been through anything like this, they are not going to like it. >> ann sullivan says her delegation from north carolina knows a thing or two about hurricanes. they won't be deterred by isaac she says and neither should the gop, the grand old party. >> this is my fourth convention i have waited 43 years for this and, you know, i am not going to let a little bit of wind and rain deter me. >> lee, the republican party has experience with this. there is the second convention from a row to be disrupt bid a hurricane. in 2008, hurricane gustav forced a delay of the convention in st. paul. >> cowan: bill whitaker in tampa tonight, thanks, bill. mitt romney has a few days to go before arriving in tampa, he was in new hampshire today, at church, went to work polishing the acceptance speech he will give on thursday night.

both presidential campaigns recently refocused on the economy with more on that we turn to jan crawford in boston and cbs news political director john dickerson in familiar parks and, guys, this may seem like the obvious question here but what is it governor romney really has to succeed at this week? >> well, this is a chance for the governor to show people who he is, what he stands for, that he can lead america to a better future, a better economy, more jobs, you are going to see a lot of testimonials from people trying to make that point to voters, olympic athletes talking about how he saved the salt lake city olympics, employees are going to say that he helped create their jobs through bain capital and of course his wife ann talking about romney as a family man. going to be very positive and forward looking, and after the convention, my sources tell me romney will keep his focus on the economy, but also sharpen his attacks on the president, all part of an effort to convince voters that romney can lead the president has failed. >> this is a two part equation, romney advisors i have talked to say they still believe it is a

referendum on the president, on the economy, but mitt romney has to do the second part of the equation which is o convince voters that he is someone they can and the reins to. >> and that means improving the connection with voters he has had some difficulty making that connection so far. >> on another note here the republicans are still wrestling with that legit that rape comment that was made by missouri republicane todd akin e had been leading democrat by about five points but now a new st. louis dispatch poll shows him trailing now by nine points, it is a critical senate race, mitt romney weighed again on this this morning, let's take a listen. >> i think it was a terrible statement on his part. i think it was uninformed, i think it was outrageous, and offensive, i have asked him to get out of the race, i think i have distanced myself from the kind of thing he says as far as, as far as i possibly can. >> one of the things that poll really pointed out is the absolutely nernlt here among women. i mean how much trouble is in

gop in. >> democrats said he represents the view of the republican party although every single republican says no, they don't and condemned him forcefully. >> paul ryan and romney almost immediately, i think where it may affect romney if he is elected it could affect his ability to governor if he loses that senate seat which everyone thinks he will and democrats hold on to the senate. >> more focus on ann romney's speech, she already had one task which is to make, humanize her husband a little to those who don't know him but he is the ambassador to women and make the case women should not be afraid of mitt romney which is the argument that democrats are making. >> cowan: all right, john dickerson in tampa town and januarjancrawford in boston, thu both. while the national gop is trying to attach down the abortion issue it is growing at the local level. chip reid looked into that for us. >> americans have been divided over the issue of abortion since the supreme court decided roe v.

wade almost 40 years ago and at the state level the debate is louder than ever. >> in the past two years alone 32 states have adopted some form of abortion restriction, the institute which supports abortion rates tracks legislation, elizabeth nash is the state issues manager. >> since the november 2010 election, we have just seen a huge tidal wave of abortion restrictions roll across the states. >> in the first six months of 2012, 15 states passed 39 restrictions on abortion. last year 24 states passed 92 restrictions, all-time record, restrictions include bans on abortions at 20 weeks, 24 to 72 hour waiting periods, and a requirement to inform women of suicide risks if they seek an abortion. the success of state restrictions may be the result of changing public opinion on abortion, on the abortion issue, a recent gallup poll asked, would you consider yourself to be pro-choice or pro-life?

50 percent of americans now call themselves pro-life, 41 percent call themselves pro-choice. a record low. >> but the restrictions are also due to an active campaign by anti-abortion forces. susan musket is with the national right-to-life committee. >> we have to enact legislation in each state to protect unborn children at 20 weeks or more, to experience pain in abortion. >> and not just active in legislatures, more than a dozen anti-abortion cases are pending in the courts. this week a court in texas ruled that the state could withhold funds from planned parenthood, whose medical services include abortion. chip reid, cbs news, washington. >> cowan: coming up on tonight's cbs evening news, the assad regime in syria is accused of yet another massacre.

>> cowan: in syria the regime of bashar al-assad is being accused of yet another massacre. activists released video showing rows of hundreds of bodies found

in a suburb, kelley cobiella has the story and images which we warn viewers are disturbing. >> the images are gruesome, bodies thrieng floor of a mosque in the town of daraya on the edge of damascus, most are men with what looks like bullet wounds to the headed and chest and women too and t small bodies of children. opposition activists accuse syrian soldiers of going house to house executing families, killing more than 300 people. the syrian army rolled the working class town friday after three straight days of shelling. part of a campaign to take control of the outskirts of damascus where rebels have been launching attacks. a report on pro government tv blames the deaths of men, women and children in daraya on terrorists. the government statement said the town had been collegesed. >> throughout syria,ing battles between opposition forces and government troops rage on.

what started as a protest 17 months ago is now a brutal civil war with no sign of an end. and bashar al-assad is as defiant as every peteing his claim today that the up rising is part of a western conspiracy. he said his government will keep fighting whatever the cost. kelley cobiella, cbs news, london. >> in china it was two in the morning and the passengers aboard a sleeper bus were sleeping, but then suddenly the vehicle slammed into a gas tank, exploding into flames. of the 39 people on board, only three survived. two in critical condition. the cause of the crash is under investigation. coming up on tonight's cbs evening news, tampa's homeless seek a safe harbor in the economic storm.

>> cowan: as republicans gathered for their convention in familiar parks they will undoubtedly be aware of the stormy weather but may not be as aware of another issue clouding the city, tampa is plagued by one of the highest rates of homelessness in the nation, some 17,000 and nearly a quarter of them are children. >> for ken and trenesha ross, homelessness snuck up on them fast. they are finally at the point where the street was just a day

away. ken blamed himself. because a man is supposed to provide for his family and i thought that i wasn't doing that. and it hurt me more not to take care of my kids, for them not to know what is going to happen the next day. >> i was embarrassed, to tell people we had nowhere to sleep. >> i guess i didn't want people to feel sorry for us. >> the ross are among 50 homeless families living in temporary housing run by metropolitan ministries, a new building with doubled capacity, we are putting in all of the foot things for the foundation. >> the privately run organization. >> our goal is to go from homelessness and a crisis to self-sufficiency in a six-month window. the kids sleep right there. >> for the ross family, home is a 260 square foot room and a bathroom, a solid foundation with room to build. >> this is our starting ground. >> this is what is going to get us back on our feet. >> metropolitan ministries also

prepares 2,500 hot meals every day for the homeless all throughout tampa st. pete. the biggest delivery is to a shelter called safe harbor for adults and women. >> this is courtyard number four. >> pinellas county sheriff opened this last year as an alternative to jail the homeless for minor crimes. >> the jail is being used as a dumping ground to solve a social problem, they come here, divert it from the jail, and get services. it will help them break the cycle of homelessness. >> the sheriff says this saves tax dollars to house a person here costs $13 a day, jail? $106 a day. and the beds here are almost always full. >> mosley slept in a cardboard box out in the street before a police officer brought her here. she lost her nursing job a year ago and has been unable to find work. >> there are a lot of us in here we have had everything and everything got took ken away from us, we used to make money

all the time. the my is bad. you can lose your job in a second. and be right here where we are at. >> now, as far as tropical storm isaac goes this week city officials in tampa say if it gets bad enough police will send out vance to pick up the homeless in known gathering spots much as they did during hurricane charlie back in 2004. well, up ahead, helping the orangutan with their habitat disappearing the species is struggling to hang on.

>> cowan: finally tonight, the orangutan, their national home is the rain forest on the islands of sumatra and borneo. but development is devastated their numbers and there is now less than 30,000 of the species left today. here is john blackstone. >> the orangutan! >> orangutans can fill us with wonder. >> partly because they are so much like us. >> they are so closely linked to humans. >> but these two at the oregon zoo, 52 years old inji and omigosh are part of a species fast disappearing. >> all of the apes are

endangered, the orangutans are at a critical point right now. >> jennifer davis runs the zoo's primate program. >> she recently wanted to see orangutan's plight firsthand in their most important habitat. >> so i blue to sumatra and i expected to see just lush tropical rain forests and as far as i could see it was just palm oil plantation. >> huge plantations were producing palm oil, are wieng out the rain forests in sumatra where most orangutans live. >> you would be amazed just how many product it is in, it is in shampoos, it is in soaps, it is in your biscuits, including some very, very well-known brands, in chocolates and it is everywhere. >> singleton who heads the orangutan program in sumatra says the biggest threat is the growing demand for palm oil. >> it is a very, very precarious situation. >> so those working to say the animals are asking consumers to start looking for a label that

says orangutan friendly, it can be found on palm oil products produced in places that do not threaten crucial habitat. >> we want people to know there is still hope because there is, but it is at a point where we need to take focus on this or we could lose this species and it is a very real possibility. >> the possibility visitors here seem to grasp. >> it sounds awful to me. so i am really concerned. >> i know they are endangered and their habitat is endangered and we need to do something about it. >> the future of the orangutan may depend in more ways than one on their close connection to us. >> that is awesome. look. >> jock john blackstone, cbs news, san francisco. >> cowan: and that is the cbs evening news for tonight. scott pelley will anchor the broadcast tomorrow from tampa, later tonight, 60 minutes. for now i am lee cowan, cbs news in new york. good night.