good morning. it is february 20th, 2013. welcome to "cbs this morning." with nine days left until massive government spending cuts, both sides dig in. and breaking news in the blade runner murder case, what police say they found in the bedroom of oscar pistorius. video shows a state trooper laughing his way out of trouble after a deadly crash. plus night gun grich tells us why he's furious with karl rove and other republicans. but we begin this morning with today's "eye opener," your world in 90 seconds. >> he stepped out the door. it wasn't two minutes when we were grabbing our stuff and the

explosion hit. and it hit you like a shock wave. >> up in flames, a massive gas explosion rocks kansas city. >> investigators are looking into whether a gas leak may have triggered the fire. >> more than a dozen people were injured and even cadaver dogs were brought in to make sure no one was buried underneath. >> a search for the people is going on right now and will for some time. oscar pistorius is back in south africa court this morning for a second day of his bail hearing. >> his girlfriend model reeva steenkamp was shot to death. >> jesse jackson jr. will plead guilty for misusing campaign funds. >> this is nod an abstraction. people will lose their jobs. hundreds of people are

stranded on a highway in north los angeles. as pope benedict prepares to step down the buzz is blowing that an american could be next in line. apple is the latest victim of cyber attacks with the same malware that hit twitter and facebook. all that -- >> you want a cat fight? oh, we have a cat fight. a pair of brooding bobcats. p>> -- and all that matters -- >> you don't need 30 rounds to protect yourself. buy a shotgun. buy a shotgun. >> joe biden being joe biden. >> -- on "cbs this morning." >> pizza shop owner is offering anyone who shows a shotgun or permit 15% off their order. i hate to break it to him, but every store has that discount. captioning funded by cbs welcome to "cbs this morning." norah o'donnell is on assignment.

president obama is warning about across-the-board budget cuts soon to kick in. he warns people will lose their jobs and services will be slashed. >> we are now nine days away from those deep automatic cuts. bill plante is at the white house. bill, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, gayle. top congressional leaders say it's the president's fault and they don't want these cuts to happen even though some of their members do. the president says he doesn't want the cuts to happen either. today he sits down with local tv reporters to, as the white house official puts it, to turn up the pressure for republicans to compromise. with just over a week until the cuts take effect, the president's placing the blame for the sequester squarely at the doorstep of the republicans in congress. >> the last thing our families can afford right now is pain imposed unnecessarily

by partisan recklessness. >> reporter: he'll hit the road to argue his case campaign stile regarding burgeoning budget cuts. he wants to close loopholes mostly against the wealthy to get more revenue. if it takes effect, it will mean $1.2 trillion in automatic across-the-board spending cuts including $46 billion of the military budget for this year. if that happens, he says, it's the president's fault, not theres. in response to mr. obama's plan, house speaker boehner said the president offered no credible plan that can pass congress, only more calls for higher taxes. >> many pundits say the sequester falls short, that we need $4 trillion in cuts. >> reporter: and as washington argues whose fault the cuts will be if they happen, nearby local

governments home to federal workers and contractors warn that massive layoffs could cripple their economies. >> we don't need to wait to see the white in the eyes before we start responding because of the potential that we see. this challenge is real and real right now. >> reporter: well, with the deadline still nine days away, there's still a lot of posturing, and there's no sign that anyone's trying to make a deal. administration tells us that there are no secret talks or negotiations under way. the reason for that, of course, the obama administration thinks it's winning this debate and republican pressure will force republicans to give in. charlie, gayle? >> thanks. cbs political correspondent john dickerson. good morning, john. >> good morning, charlie. >> put this for us in terms of what we're talking about and what we're not talking about. >> it's a good point. step back here. what we're not talking about in this sequester is the actual

long-term drivers of this deficit problem so as people look at the fight, which is the 900th chap tur in the con stangt fights of the budget, what's happening is the debate about dumb cuts to a portion of the budget, and everybody agrees they're dumb in terms of just being cut. the long-term -- those long-term costs are health care costs and so if washington can't agree on these fights, they really can't agree on the harder fights about long-term health care costs that are part of entitlement. >> what are the short-term gains and long-term gains that either party can get it. >> clearly they show the upper hand. that's the short-term game. polls would suggest the president has the advantage there. but in the long-term picture economies tend to be talked about by the presidential terms and what the white house is worrying about is this economy which is struggling would really take a hit if the sequester took a hit over the long period of

time. that in the end through history's eyes, that makes the obama economy weaker and that's not great legacy item for this prb. >> so, john, with nine days and counting and no talks scheduled on either side, do you think it's inevitable it's going to happen? >> it's inevitable we'll get to march 1st. we talk about the budget fight as game of chicken. it's really a game of uncle, which is to say who's going to cave in first. >> who wins or loses in this with each party blaming the other? >> they both lose in terms of the country looking at them. the republicans seem to be losing more. they're trying to reorder the argument here and connect with people's fundamental feeling about the size of government, especially with tax time coming, people paying these big tax bills and wondering what they're getting for it. that's the hopes.

but so far they're showing the president with a little stronger hand here. >> john dickerson, thank you. police with search dogs searching for bodies this morning in the wreckage of a kansas city restaurant. >> dave hull of our kansas city affiliate kctv is at the scene. >> reporter: an explosion rocked the kansas city community after 6:00 p.m. on tuesday. the towering flame was over a block and injured several severely. many in the area had been complaining of a strong smell of gas. >> we finally called the gas company. they came out, checked inside our building, said we needed to evacuate. it wasn't two minutes when we were grabbing our stuff and the explosion hit. it hits you like a shock waive. >> reporter: they claim it could have been triggered by a

construction company hits an underground gas pipe. kansas city's mayor is counting his blessings. >> i was there. on a tuesday night that place would often be packed, so i was really praying that wasn't the case and i don't believe it was. >> reporter: jay jay's had been cleared out but they were still combing through the smoking rubble. >> we have had cadaver dogs on the pile and they have not indicated that have made any hits whatsoever. but we continue to look and are concerned but we do have reports that we're looking for two people who may be missing. >> reporter: later this morning they're going to hold a press conference to tell us about the search and exactly what sparked this fire. in south africa this mornig, dramatic new testimony regarding oscar pistorius. he's a double amputee runner

accused of hurting his girlfriend. police say they found tess test trone and needles in his bedroom. emma has the latest. >> reporter: another day of dramatic evidence. the rain pouring down outside the court as inside the detective leading the investigation told how he was called to pistorius's home in the early hours of valentine's day. he said there he saw reeva steenka steenkamp's body lying at the bottom of the stairs. he said she was menswearing a white tank top and shorts and covered in towels. in court the athlete -- the detective described how she suffered three bullet woulds to her body in three places on the right side, one in the head, one in the hip, another in the elbow on her arm which broke the bone.

he said he would have had to have fired through the bathroom door at such an angle it would be extremely difficult to do it. also pris torous wept throughout much of the evidence as he heard a witness talking the argument, a neighbor hearing shots fired and another screaming over more shots. them they forced the detectives to admit that he had been about a quarter mile away. there has been a discussion of about the testosterone. pistorius claims it was a herbal remedy. it was conceded there were no discrepancie discrepancies. his family seemed relieved as this court hearing continues. back to you. >> thank you. there is no relief in sight

for drivers today. the average price of average gas is $3.76 a gallon. today is the 34th day that gas has gone up. manuel bojorquez is at a refinery in new jersey. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, charlie. good morning, gayle. the gas has got up 46 cents. they're shutting down a refinery behind me. firet at two different chevron facilities in california are bad news for drivers on the west coast while in the east coast they continue to pinch. many plants typically go down for routine maintenance in the winter months when cold weather means fewer drivers on the road. other drivers are switching over to produce summer gasoline, a

special blend that produces pollution but costs more. >> i'd say we'll peek out between 3.80 and 410. i think the upper great lakes has the potential to go up to $4 as will california. >> reporter: over the last two years gas has been almost 10% more expensive in the spring than in the fall. this year the increase has come earlier. >> the investors chase the prices higher. it's like move up the oscars and the grammys. >> what can we do but pay, pay, pay. >> reporter: gas producers along the gulf have plenty of it but can't get it where it needs go fast enough. >> we don't have enough ship to move refined products from port to port, so a place like the u.s. east coast is not getting gasoline necessarily as rapid of

a pace from the gulf coast because the ships are too expensive to move it. >> reporter: one thing people can do to pay less at the pump is to drive more fuel efficient vehicles. but so far hire gas prices do not seem to be playing into the gas prices. in february the two top vehicles were pickup trucks. >> they're expected to plead guilty to charges they spent more than $700,000 in campaign funds for personal use. jay le vane of our chicago cbs team is live. good morning. >> good morning. what's expect are negotiated plea agreements signed by both jesse and jackie. they're now claiming a troubled

marriage. wining and dining a washington restaurant hostess. went to jewelry, furs, other personal items including tens of personal items of bruce lee, martin luther king jr. and michael jackson memorabilia. only the congressman is charged with the actual conspiracy. jackson who has been diagnosed with a bipolar disorder considered an insanity defense before it will be up to the judge to sentence him anywhere from five to ten years of jail. he tried to protect his wife and mother of his children but couldn't because she signed tax returns. it may have led to much less serious tax ft. lauderdale charged. both have apologize and is hoping his mental disability and their strong record of public

service will be time enough. >> how much discretion does the judge have? >> total discretion, charlie. he has the ability to sep or reject the sentence. five years from jail for him or probation to a year and a half for her will be the actually sentence in the case. general john allen will not be the next commander of the u.s. nato forces in europe. he announced he's retiring to care for his wife. his nomination had been put on hold for time because of details with a florida socialite but he was cleared of any wrongdoing. last week he talked with "60 minutes" correspondent lara logan. >> i get the impression sitting

here it's not just a job or carrying the next promotion. you're caring this in your heart. >> yes. i almost can't imagine being anywhere else. this is completely consuming to me and i'm dedicated 24 hour as day to the magnificent troops, the after against and the cause. this is very personal to me and i take it very person. >> it's time to show you some of the headlines. they argue how much can be donated. it's the first finance case to go before the court since a controversial decision citizens united ruling in 2010. the "l.a. times" says a student. went on a shooting spree in orange county, california. police say he carjack add drug and shot and wounded three and

killed many me. it ended when the gunman committed suicide. they rose almost 4% in 2010. prescription drugs were involved in more than half of all overdoses. >> the "new york post" says documentary maker ken burns has scored a victory. new york city wanted him to hand over footage from his film but the judge rules tuesday the materialize is protected by reporter's privilege. >> some macs owned or used by apple employees has become a victim of malicious software. a winter storm warning is in effect for the mountain areas of california. 4 yesterday north of los angeles

the high washington had to be shut down and there were stranded cars. and it's rough going in minnesota today. high winlds caused near white joud conditions. police say an suv was going too fast and rolled over. the driver wasn't hurt but he did get a ticket. i guess he didn't get the driving lesson. you have to jaufs your driving to the weather conditions. you know >> announcer: this national

weather report sponsored by the u.s. postal service. schedule your free package pickup today. a state trooper is cited a deadly crash, but the case is crossed out in a two-minute court hearing filled with laughter. >> do you agree with the dismissal? >> why not. i'm eager to please. >> this morning, details of the case that has some people furious. how did eight men drive into

an airport in behm jum and drive out with $50 million in diamonds? was it an inside job? plus government gridlock reaches outer space. how our inability to get anything done in washington can interfere with our ability to forecast winter storms only on "cbs this morning." >> announcer: this portion of "cbs this morning" sponsored by usaa, serving the financial needs of current military members and their families. fort benning, georgia, in 1999. ] [ male announcer ] usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans, and their families

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