flood fears grips southern california. a major pacific storm starting dumping heavy rain on parched communities, prompting hundreds of evacuations. and the same weather system threatens to deliver more snow to the east coast. the crisis in ukraine deepens. pro-russian forces begin to lay claim to a border region while the ousted president prepares for his first public appearance since anti-government protesters forced him to flee the country. and hunting hackers. how they track down identity thieves around the globe.

captioning funded by cbs this is the "cbs morning news" for friday, february 28th, 2014. good morning. good to be with you. i'm anne-marie green. this morning drought-stricken southern california is getting hit hard by a powerful pacific storm. but it may be too much of a good thing. this is the second and stronger half of a one-two storm punch to hit the west coast. the fear is all the water will produce flooding and mud slides in areas recently overrun by wildfires. evacuations have been ordered east of los angeles. and the rain is already falling in l.a. residents in the mountains east of the city were warned they face injury or death if they don't leave. a reporter reports from glendora, california. >> reporter: glendora police warned evacuating residents if they left, they couldn't come back. >> saturday afternoon. it's really going to depend on

the amount of rainfall. >> reporter: many chose to stay despite the evacuation order. >> if anything happens, they said, we're not going to come and get you. yeah, so you're on your own. >> reporter: they said they're taking their chances. we have dogs, medical condition, my mom with alzheimer's. it's too many issues to take with us to a hotel room. >> reporter: the higgins family who live throughout again gloria were busy sand bagging and have things on stand by. >> we're going from there. >> reporter: bill higgins sr. years home was covered in a mud slide here. 239 homes were destroyed. 239 people were killed during a heavy storm that came after a fire. >> this house is the house right there that was completely knocked off its foundation. >> reporter: barbara albany shared "national geographic"

images. she lived near the hillside left by the colby fire. >> reporter: although there's more development now, she hopes they're more prepared. still she packed up her car and headed out to a friend's house. >> i've taken out anything that means september mental value and after that, what am i going to do here, you know, other than get crazy when and if the mud comes. >> reporter: and the closure and mandatory evacuation order for about a thousand glendora residents will remain in effect until possibly saturday, depending on what the storm brings. the city has also dropped off sand bags and 1.6 miles of rail here just to keep residents safe. i'm serena branson in california. >> jacky johnson has more.

>> maybe too much all at once. take a look at this large storm system that's moving in. we've got flash flood watches an warnings that are in effect and a possibility of 10 inches of rain in southern california, not to mention the threat of thunderstorms in higher elevations. up to four feet of snow a ability with winds gusting up to 75 miles an hour. as we head further to the east, arctic air continues to dominate the midwest with highs in the single digits and the teens from the northern plains to the great lakes with windchills well below zero, so it is going to be another cold one. now, our storm out west will eventually move to the east and just blast the northeast with heavy snow and isolate sunday into monday. significant snow accumulations are expected. anywhere from boston to new york to d.c. i'm jackie johnson in los angeles. the polar jet stream moving south from canada poses a threat of significant snow over the weekend. north of toronto yesterday blowing snow and low visibility

are being blamed for a collision involved nearly a hundred cars and trucks. no serious injuries are reported, but the highway was closed for most of the day. and heavy snow is suspected to have caused a roof at an outlet mall to collapse yesterday in northern michigan. two people were injure by the cave-in of a ralph lauren polo store. ukraine government says russian soldiers have taken control of an airport. ukrainian interior minister calls the action an occupation and earlier today ukraine's ousted president is expected to speak out from russia. clary a ward joins us by phone from kiev. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. a lot of confusion from crimea. this is a very fluid situation,

but what we're hearing is that two airports have been taken over. the main airport, the civilian airport in the regional capital appears to have been taken over by unidentified masked gunmen. they're in the control tower. they're roaming around the terminal. they're patrolling the outside. they're wearing uniforms without any insignia and they refuse to talk to journalists on the ground there. there's not any idea who they are but there's a suspicion they're a pro-russian military team. in conjunction with that there are other reports that russian military personnel have blocked an airport in a different city in crimea. that airport is near a large russian naval base. russ russia's fleet is denying that they're blockading or seizing this military airport but they did concede they have stepped up

measures with their anti-terror units to, quote, protect units with parts of the fleets that are locate. ukraine's interior ministry is calling this an armed invasion and occupation, but so far to the best of our knowledge, there haven't been any incidents of violence, and in that large civilian regional hub in the city, the airport is still operating regularly. >> all right. clarissa ward in kiev. thank you very much, clarissa. the obama administration is urging restraint in ukraine and keeping a close eye on russia. susan mcginnis is in washington. susan, good morning zbhood morning, anne-marie. vice president joe biden talked with the newly appointed ukrainian prime minister and told him that his government has the full support of the united states. also, russia's foreign minister told secretary of state john kerry that military exercises on ukraine border were plan and are unrelated to current events. the foreign minister also said

russia will respect ukraine's territorial integrity. juan za pate says the u.s. wants ukraine to remain a unified autonomous state. >> they want to try to do everything possible to not only avoid a russianen vags but the splitup of ukraine. i think that's the last thing the u.s. wants to see. try to do that not just through its own words and diplomats but also through the european union, meetings and words coming out of nato as well. >> now, secretary kerry said everyone involved in the ukraine krahn crisis needs to avoid it. a critical underground nuclear waste dump is closed this morning. investigators are trying to find the source of the radiation leak

near carlsbad. they inhaled radioactive particles. air monitors a half mile away detected elevated levels. officials say it's too soon to determine the health effects. coming up on the "morning news," the hunt for hackers. we'll take you inside a secret service operation to track down cyber thieves around the world. this is the "cbs morning news." hungry for the best? it's eb. want to give your family the very best in taste, freshness, and nutrition? it's eb. eggland's best. better taste. better nutrition. better eggs.

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track cyber criminals around the world. these screen show an internet chat room based in russia where hackers are brazenly selling what they've just stolen. u.s. social security numbers are offered at $2 each. >> the credit cards are available, social security information. >> this is a marketplace? >> this is a marketplace? >> reporter: a marketplace where thieves also sell the latest know-how. the rekrechblt attacks at targets lasted for weeks and neiman marcus for three months when they broke through firewalls, stole millions of credit cards but never raised the alarm. here on this forum, av is one of the skills for sale. >> reporter: av check? >> av check. there are businessing out there that their business is ensuring if you have built a piece of malware, that it will be undetectable by any service. >> reporter: they all noticed a

spi spike. more than 800,000 credit cards were offered as once. investigators posing as buyers bought a sample of cards and made a connection to charges at target. >> these individuals, they're the highest level cyber criminals. they study their targets, they are extremely patient. >> now the focus is on finding and arresting the centimeters who use these chat rooms knowing they're being hunted. >> reporter: they believe if they commit the crimes they're anonymous and they believe they're safe from u.s. law enforcement. >> reporter: they just think you can't catch them. >> that would be a safe assumption. >> reporter: are they right? >> i believe our successes in the past would show they're not right r the secret service says their investigations have led to 4,900 arrests in cyber threats or fraud. they say the malware probably came from eastern europe or russia but the manhunt for who did this is global.

wyatt andrews, cbs news, washington. on the "cbs moneywatch," janet yellen blames the weather, and a smartphone that self-destructs. jill wagner is at the new york stoxx exchange with that and more. good morning, jill. >> good morning, anne-marie. fed chair janet yellen told lawmakers on capitol hill they're closely watching the economic slowdown. she testified before the senate banking committee yesterday. she pointed specifically to weaker than expected consumer spending and job growth, which may have been affected by this severe winter weather. she assured lawmakers that if the slowdown persists, the slowdown of the fed's economic stimulus could be reversed. here on wall street, some solid earnings reports sent stocks higher. the dow rose 74 points. the nasdaq finished the day nearly 20 points higher and the s&p hit an all-time high. tokyo's nikkei lost half a percent. hong kong's hang seng was flat.

a pilot shortage may just be an issue for regional airmens. the government accountability office says the u.s. airline industry will need to hire up to 4,500 new pilots over the next ten years. 11 of 12 regional airlines did not meet their hiring target this year, but that's not the case for major airlines which pay significantly more than the regional carriers. and, anne-marie, the aircraft manufacturer boeing has designed a self-destructing high-security smartphone. the phone is called black. if it's tampered with, black automatically releases any data and make itself inoperable. it's for security information including the government. >> sounds like something james bond would have in his arz nal. straight ahead, lebron james goes incognito against the

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lebron james was back on the court for the miami heat but he was a little hard to recognize. lebron's sporting a face mask that kind of makes him look like batman and he didn't seem to mind wearing it. james finishes it with 30 points taking down the knicks, 108-32. it's been seven months since ryan braun stepped up to plate but yesterday in his first at-bat in spring training the former mvp goes deep. he was suspended for milwaukee's final 65 games last year for violating the drug agreement. and the san diego padres are asking fans to swing for the fences. the team will give away two season tickets to any fan who can hit a home run at petco part. fans will get to take one ball fired at them from a pinching machine. it is worth noting petco parke is one of the worst stadiums for professionals to hit a home run

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here's a look a today's forecast in some cities around the country. a michigan teacher is fighting for her job. she's accused of teasing a kid rather than helping. she is heard asking the boy if he wanted to get tasered. the 10-year-old has asperger's syndrome. his head and arms are stuck in the chair. a lawyer for the boy's mom says he was stuck for up to 15 minutes. the principal who's resigned is ard saying it's not an emergency. and they're ready for rain

in hollywood. the stormy weather is in the forecast up until sunday's oscar ceremony. the cruise set up a clear plastic tent to protect the famed red carpet. a stretch of hollywood boulevard is closed and covered. that's where nominee and other celebrities will arrive. first lady mom is not just eating her vegetables. she's dancing with them. >> jump up and down. one more time. >> give it everything you've got. >> the first lady showed off her moves with a giant carrot eggplant and broccoli. she danced with the maryland preschoolers to promote healthy activities in eating. the program encourages an hour a day of physical activity. >> let dees this thing. let's move. >> the oval office is getting into the act. idpresent obama and vice president joe biden presented a video to support the fir lady's "let's move" campaign.

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good morning. welcome to wusa9. today is friday. it is february 28. we say farewell to this month as we get prepared for the lion

to come in cold and angry on monday. i'm andrea roane. howard will tell you more about thats. >> that's not very good. but it is friday. monika, good morning. happy friday. >> good morning. it is freezing. >> there's a real, real bite. is that going to stay around for the weekend? >> we'll moderate some saturday and sunday. maybe a sprinkle here and there. sunday night, monday, that's when the cold comes in and moisture comes in. right now it's trending more sleet and snow than freezing rain which would be better. still it's going to be a messy monday no matter how you slice it. >> departments of transportation, pay attention. >> if you have any travel plans whether by train or plane, automobile for monday, start thinking about plan b. could be a significant storm. still too early to know exactly how much or what type of precipitation we'll get but needless to say a very messy monday is shaping up. today a very cold day, sunny. we're down in the teens, even a

few single zing legitimates -- digits near the pennsylvania border. we'll be lucky to get to 31 and back to 22. the one thing about today better than yesterday. the winds should be coming down a lot. maybe 5 to 10 miles an hour as they go north to israel. this morning all clear -- north to east. this morning all clear. we're looking at a good deal of sunshine. cumberland 6. below zero in oakland. 14 manassas. southern maryland mid- to upper teens is all we can muster right now with 17 in easton. their windchill is 5. windchill to 8 in westminster. feels like 10 in frederick. 1 below in martinsburg. a bitterly cold end to the month of february. we'll be back with more talking about messy morning. here comes monika. no mess here. no mess here at all. in fact, i spoke to all the traffic peeps from overnight. they tell me it was a super

quiet night. i think everyone is absolutely pooped out from the week. it was not a fun week traffic wise at all. let's hope today is quiet. on the north end of town it is quiet. college park into silver spring. there are no issues at all. let's take a live look into bethesda where you're looking great at bradley in arlington. not a soul in sight. if you're planning to head around town on the other side, let's take a live look in from the west. dulles toll road, 66 no issues at all. we're looking great on the beltway between 270, tysons corner and springfield and we'll take a live look on the northbound side of 395 at edsall road. very quiet as you head for the 14th street bridge. andrea, mike? new this morning, 45 people are displaced after a two-alarm fire tore through a two-story apartment building in springfield, virginia. fire officials tell 9news crews were called around 11:00 last night with reports of fire and smoke coming from a first floor apartment. eight people were injured. two were taken to the hospital

with nonlife threatening injuries. we're told most of the injuries appear to be from smoke inhalation. temporary shelter for those displaced residents has been set up at lynn brook middle school. a metro bus driver is recovering this morning after something shattered the windshield of the bus. it was at langston place in southeast. metro crews are still trying to figure out what it was, what caused the incident. the driver had to be obtain to the hospital. no -- taken to the hospital. no passengers were injured. the condition of the driver is unclear at this point. arlington county police are asking witnesses to come forward in the case of an accident that took the life of a mother of three young children. it was monday morning when a dump truck hit 39-year-old jennifer lawson. she was leaning into her minivan parked along little falls road near nottingham elementary school. police believe two vehicles were behind the dump truck and

they would like to talk to those drivers. there is no reason for transgenders pay out of pocket expenses for necessary coverage. gray says gender identity disorder is a recognized medical condition and he wants to end health care discrimination. we told you it was coming this time yesterday. now it's official. nutrition labels are getting a makeover. the food and drug administration is redesigning those labels you find on the foods you buy at grocery stores. first lady michele obama is speaker heading the label redesign. jeff mckays has more. >> reporter: what and how people eat have changed. now for the first time in two decades the labels on foods will change, too. the calories will be featured more prominently and added sugars or sweeteners will be added as well. >> we're also asking for a change in serving size to reflect the realities of what