and anna werner reports something most of us take for granted is growing scarce in the texas drought. >> it's devastating. you don't really know what's going to happen. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. there is growing talk about a military strike against iran to stop its from developing a nuclear weapon. some of it came from israel's defense minister, and some of it came from u.s. defense secretary leon panetta today. more about all of that now from national security correspondent david martin at the pentagon. >> reporter: defense secretary panetta believes there is strong likelihood israel will strike iran in april, may, or june. that, according to columnist, david ignatius, writing shortly after he completed a transatlantic flight with the defense secretary. panetta today did not dispute it. as if to show panetta has cause for concern, israel's defense minister seemed to reject u.s. arguments economic sanctions need more time to work. sprinkling his hebrew with english ehud barak said. >> as long as as november,

anna werner on why an oklahoma oil man believes the u.s. is on its way to energy independence. and seth doane with a doctor who has a prescription for homelessness. >> i got my own keys to my apartment. it's all good. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. it read like an indictment today, a new united nations report accusing syrian president bashar al-assad of crimes against humanity. assad is trying to crush a freedom movement that has risen qunicy his family's 40-year dictatorship. this is one street today in the city of homs. more than a million and a half people live in homs, but they're in hiding, amidst the distant thunder of assad's artillery. there are reports from homs tonight of hunger and of wounds sewn up with sewing thread. secretary of state hillary clinton is headed to tunisia for a conference on what to do next and wyatt andrews is with the secretary tonight in london. >> reporter: scott, that international conference the secretary will attend has two main goals, the first, getting food and medicin

anna werner is there. >> reporter: single mother dianna castillo is one of 1100 people who have beenold their town is running out of water. >> it's kev devastating. you don't know what's going to happen. >> reporter: the community's only well has barely a day's worth of water left. so five times a day, water is being trucked in to fill the community's storage tank, and for now, everyone here has to boil drinking water, but castillo would rather buy bottled water to make formula for her son. it takes another bite out of the paycheck she gets work at a fast food restaurant. >> i mean, i'm a new mother. i'm worried about him, you know. he's my life. i'm worried about my family. i don't know what's going to happen. >> reporter: the community's problems started with the drought that dried up this part of lake travis. there's so little water left in the lake, that both docks like this one that should be floating some 40 feet over my head now sit on dry land. the biggest worry here is the threat of wildfires. have you ever had the town say to you, "we might not have enough water for you to

anna werner takes a look at how the texas law is sparking anger but may not be changing minds. >> thisnt in dallas who asked not to be identified is undergoing the new procedure required by law to obtain an abortion in texas. >> we can see that. >> she must get a sonogram and is also required to listen to the doctor's verbal description of what is seen on the monitor. she told us she felt pressured by the process. >> kind of take my choice away to have an abortion. >> like it take your choice away? >> the decision i already made. >> under the law, patients like this must wait at least another 24 hours before getting the abortion. >> it's a burden for them -- for the woman and the people who pass this law intended for it to be a burden. >> dr. curtis boyd runs the abortion clinic. >> if you can't make it illegal, make it as rare as possible and their sense of making is rare is not providing contraception but by putting a barrier to access to service this. >> but the law's sponsor says the intent is just the opposite. >> making sure women have all the information they need to have, makin

a similar law is already on the books in texas and we sent anna werner to find out what sort of effect it's having. >> reporter: this 23-year-old patient in dallas who asked not to be identified is undergoing the new procedure required by law to obtain an abortion in texas. >> there's an arm or leg so you can see that. >> reporter: she must get a sonogram and is also required to listen to the doctor's verbal description of what is seen on the monitor. >> we have a spine. >> reporter: she told us she felt pressured by the process. >> kind of take my choice away to have an abortion. >> reporter: like it takes your choice away? >> trying to sway my choice on a decision that i already made. >> reporter: also under the law, patients like this must wait at least another 24 hours before getting the abortion. >> it's a burden for the woman and the people who pass this law intend for it to be a burden. >> reporter: dr. curtis boyd runs the abortion clinic. >> if you can't make it illegal, make it as rare as possible and their sense of making it rare is not by providing contraception but it's by

anna werner, cbs news, spicewood beach, texas. >> tough situation there. up after your local news on "cbs this morning," a live report from denver on that monster snowstorm that could break records. plus, groundbreaking new studies on alzheimer's disease that could lead to promising new treatments. we'll hear from the co-author of one of those studies. and we will go live to indianapolis for your big preview of super bowl xlvi. >>> that's the "cbs morning news" for this friday. thanks for watching everyone. i'm betty nguyen. thanks for watching everyone. i'm betty nguyen. have a great weekend. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

but anna werner talked to an oil man today who is predicting that it's coming and in just a few yearser: the boom times are back in seminole, oklahoma. oil producers are drilling 20 new wells a day here. melvin moran is a second-generation oil man. his production has soared 50% in the last five years. >> since new technol has come on, there have been probably been 100 wells drilled within two or three miles from where we are standing. >> reporter: the new technology lets oil producers drill not just vertically but horizontally into layers of black shale, rock that is rich with oil. once there, they use the method called fracking, pumping in water under intense pressure along with sand and chemicals to crack open the rock and release the oil. fracing is controversial, and some question its impact on the environment. moran believes if done responsibly, it's safe. >> this new technology, with these large fracs, has increased both oil and gas production enormously. >> reporter: five years ago, drelg a well here would have been a waste of time because it would have produced virtually no oi

anna werner is there. anna. >> reporter: scott, i'm standing in what's left of the nature sunshine health food store. the roof's been taken off. the store is destroyed. in fact, the only way that you'd know that this used to be a health food store is by a few books and other items the tornado left behind. the tornado skipped down main street, tearing at the businesses and theaters in the heart of this country music resort town. >> the whole house shook, and i was, like whoa! >> reporter: as sirens sounded, glenn lefebvre gathered his wife and three into their bath tub. are you thinking about your family? the tornado passed. then he heard the screams of his neighbors, trapped in this house, and ran to help. >> i had to get in. i had to. i had to get in. >> reporter: why? >> because of the way they were screaming, "help us, help us." i had to get in there. >> reporter: he got as close as he could and then kept them calm until the rescuers arrived. what was that like for you when they finally came out and you

anna werner, cbs news, dallas. >> pelley: we are experiencing one of those times in history when an aging dictatorship hangs on to power by using mitt tear force against its own people. for nearly a year now, we've been following the freedom movement in syria and it appears tonight that the dictator bashar al-assad is rushing to crush that rebellion before the world can do very much about it. this is the city of homs. remember the name. it's a city a little bigger than philadelphia and it's been under artillery fire for two weeks. the rebels there claim 100 civilians were killed today alone. the citizens have been filming the siege on cell phones. these are the sites and sounds of what it's like to be a citizen of homs today. (bomb blasts) (yelling) (loud bomb blasts) (yelling) >> pelley: the man shooting that video was saying "we are being slaughtered, where are you, all arabs?" 18 countries of the arab league voted to suspend syria's membership. secretary of state hillary clinton will be in tunisia on friday to meet with representatives of 70 countries to talk about what might be done t

anna werner, cbs news, dallas. >>> straight ahead, your wednesday morning weather and in sports, mississippi a huge upset has number one kentucky against the ropes. [ announcer ] who could resist the call... of america's number-one puppy food brand? with dha and essential nutrients also found in mother's milk. purina puppy chow. prego?! but i've been buying ragu for years. [ thinking ] i wonder what other questionable choices i've made? [ club scene music ] [ sigh of relief ] [ male announcer ] choose taste. choose prego. are choosing advil®. here's one story. pain doesn't have much of a place in my life. i checked the schedule and it's not on it. [ laughs ] you never know when advil® is needed. well most people only know one side of my life. they see me on stage and they think that that is who i am. there's many layers to everybody everywhere. singer, songwriter, philanthropist, father, life's a juggling act. when i have to get through the pain, i know where to go. [ male announcer ] take action. take advil®. with determination. courage. and all the points i earned with my citi thankyou car

anna werner takes a look back at the historic flight. >> liftoff. >> reporter: 50 years ago on februaryred out into earth's orbit and america held its breath. the soviet union had been the first country to send a man into space and the united states was playing catchup. the man nasa chose to make that historic first orbit was john glenn. >> it was a time when people, i think, were looking for something to hang on to that we were really on the way back and we were competitive. >> reporter: tom wolf, author of "the right stuff" says at the time of the mission americans feared the soviets would wage war from space. >> lyndon johnson says whoever controls the high ground of space controls the earth. >> reporter: glenn completed three orbits around the earth during a four hour, 56-minute flight and brought back hope with the spacecraft, becoming a national hero, even if he never saw himself that way. >> i was still basically the same person i was before the flight, in my own eyes. >> reporter: glenn later retired to become a u.s. senator. he always wanted to return to space and finally did i

and anna werner reports something most of us take for granted is growing scarce in the texas drought.evastating. you don't really know what's going to happen. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. there is growing talk about a military strike against iran to

anna werner on why an oklahoma oil man believes the u.s. is on its way to energy independence.nd seth doane with a doctor who has a prescription for homelessness. >> i got my own keys to my apartment. it's all good. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley.

. >> anna werner is in texas where there's a lot more beach than there used to be.ing. >> good morning, charlie. if things were as they're supposed to be, this dock where i'm standing would be in some 20 feet of water. but here the lake has dried up. and when the lake dries up, the wells do too. the water level in this part of lake travis has dropped to a near record low, which means the groundwater supplies that feed local wells are down too. the well that provides water to spice wood beach residents like connie heller has nearly run dry. >> i never dreamed it would ever be this way. i thought we always had a good well. >> the well's water level dropped over a foot in just a day. so water is now being trucked in several times a day to fill the community storage tank. >> what's it like to essentially be in a situation where you might not have running water in your home? >> it's scary. it really worries me. i haven't been sleeping nights. i don't know what to do. >> even scarier is the prospect of another fire. fire swept through this part of videos on you-tube show.