mark strassmann, cbs news, south carolina. >> and that is the "overnight news" for this tuesday. some of you, the news continues. for everyone else, check back later for "cbs mornings" and of course follow us online any time at cbsnews.com. reporting from the nation's capitol, i'm errol barnett. >>> this is cbs news flash. i'm bradley blackburn in new york. at&t and verizon are putting the brakes on faster 5g internet, at least for now. the companies have agreed to a two-week delay in launching new 5g service because the federal government is concerned the signals could disrupt navigation systems on planes. >>> starbucks says its employees must be fully vaccinated against covid-19 or face weekly testing starting in february. the company says it's complying with federal rules for its 228,000 workers. if they choose to test, they have to pay the cost themselves. >>> and washington, d.c. saw record snowfall monday, but there is a silver lining right there in black and white. a snow day for the national zoo's giant panda cub, who tried a little sledding in the fresh powder. nice form

>> brennan: mark strassmann, thank you. we go now to former f.d.a.ioner and pfizer board member dr. scott gottlieb, who played it out of the storm and down here to d.c. this morning. that is dedication. thank you, doctor. >> doctor: thank you. >> brennan: there is a new variant of concern, ba2. and the c.d.c. says it is already here in the united states. how concerned should we be? >> doctor: the question is: does this change the decision space? i don't really think it does. it perhaps extends the tale on the decline we're seeing across the country. is it more contagious? it appears to be more contagious. data out of denmark suggests it is 1.5 times more contagious. does it evade our immune system or the immunity we have attained from the vaccines? so far it suggests it doesn't. a fully boosted person may be more protected against this new variant than the original strain of omicron. the final question: is it more virulent? more dangerous? and basically from the information we're collecting from out of denmark, it doesn't appear to be a more virulent

here's cbs' mark strassmann. >> reporter: if a picture is worth 1,000 words... >> thank you for yourdonations were worth one million meals too military families battling hunger. >> if you all just head right in there, they'll help you out. >> reporter: near fort hood in texas, hundreds of families each received 60 pounds of free groceries. >> this food makes a huge impact on their lives, on their family lives. >> reporter: back in february, we started reporting on military families struggling to feed themselves. why? low incomes, frequent moves, denial up the chain of command. >> i cannot feed my kids. it's just-- unacceptable, really. >> reporter: from joint base lewis-mcchord in washington state, to naval station norfolk in virginia. >> how can they focus on the mission when your family can't even survive? >> reporter: in one study, nearly 40% of active-duty military families faced hunger issues at the start of the covid era. finally, the pentagon agreed to identify and help them. >> our men and women in uniform and their families have enough to worry about. basic necessities, like

here is mark strassmann. >> reporter: it is the same scene all over: americans on a scavenger hunt forid tests. >> at this time we are sold out of covid tests. >> reporter: empty shelves, long lines, colorado, indiana, even massachusetts, home to one of america's highest vaccine rates. and yet somehow florida, long a bull's eye for the virus, managed to let up to one million covid tests expire in a warehouse. one critic called it heartless. >> there wasn't a lot of demand for them. they've been sending them as requested. >> reporter: covid anxiety and covid testing are both spiking now that the holidays are beh this is glenn county, coastal georgia. six times as many people lined up for tests the first week of january than the week before. omicron surges everywhere with astonishing speed. contact tracings virtually worthless. consider this: it took six months for the u.s. to report its first four million cases. the last four million took one week. this is southeast georgia health system near savannah. its covid patients more than doubled in one week. >> every bed is taken. >> reporter:

cbs' mark strassmann is outside the courthouse in brunswick, georgia for us. good evening, mark. >> reporter: good evening, norah. outside this courthouse, several dozen people listening by speaker cheered when the judge announced the sentence. nearly two years after ahmaud arbery was killed, his family sees justice in a case that almost never came to trial. >> we are all accountable for our own actions. >> reporter: account act in america's latest moment of racial reckoning. three life sentences, two without chance of parole. in a relieved georgia community, ahmaud arbery's family still churns. >> when i... close my eyes, i see his execution in my mind over and over. i'll see that for the rest of my life. >> reporter: the 25-year-old arbery went jogging and ended up running for his life. for five minutes in february 2020, three white georgia men in pickup trucks pursued a black man on foot they suspected was a burglar, trapping him like a rat in the words of defendant gregory mcmichael. two 12-gauge shotgun blasts tore pointblank into arbery, even though gunma

cbs's mark strassmann has more. >> reporter: for cassandra little gavin's infection softens the squeeze the cost of daycare in america. at one point, taking almost half this architect's after-tax income. >> i felt like i should scream, cry and vomit all at the same time. you have this repetitive question, is it worth it? >> reporter: except for washington, d.c., massachusetts has america's most expensive childcare. for a four-year-old that cost averages $15,000 a year, an infant almost $21,000. by government standards, only 5% of massachusetts families can afford infant care. >> doesn't work for anybody. nobody wins. >> reporter: lauren cook runs the ellis learning early center. this nationally accredited nonprofit looks after 270 kid. tuition as high as $30,000. but without donations, the center would close. >> we lose money virtually on every child we serve. >> reporter: these parents should be paying more. >> which is important. we would break families. >> reporter: for years, advocates have pleaded for government to invest in early learning. at ellis, two-thirds of the kids subsidiz

cbs' mark strassmann reports. >> reporter: with wind chill, it's minus 7. >> all right, everybody have fun! >> reporter: a walk in the woods when you're a kid from la farge, wisconsin. in this 9,000-acre preserve, this new kindergarten program embraces the benefits of outdoor learning. >> good morning! good morning! >> reporter: and discovered a pandemic safe space. >> at the peak of an outbreak that we had, we had 28 active cases among students and staff. >> reporter: and how about in this program, how many kid? >> zero. >> reporter: none. coincidence? >> probably not. >> reporter: across covid america, 54 hun h teinclassg, not in paemic, and respothat phase onee for health and safety. >> reporter: 17 schools in portland built outdoor learning spaces, plenty of winter ghee and wifi. 6700 students k-12 spend part of their day outdoors. outdoors. that's also true in lafarge, where kindergarten only looks like recess all day. >> nobody is bored, not ever, not ever. and they're so joyful and healthy and happy. >> reporter: and do you think you learn more inside or outside? >> outside. >>

cbs' mark strassmann reports on one group trying to change all that in tonight's "unifying america.". >> reporter: inviting strangers to talk politics. wagrewith each other on everything. >> reporter: fireworks alert, right? wrong. since 2017, mada, make america dinner again, somehow has bridged red and blue america. people disagree, agreeably. at first warmed by an actual meal, now on zoom. >> once everyone has a chance to share, there's a lot of goodness that can happen. >> reporter: like wes dennis. >> fairly liberal. >> reporter: and patrick yu. >> i'm seen as conservative. >> we disagree on a lot of things. >> reporter: yet, they have become friends, stepping outside their silos where many liberals and conservatives live. >> some of us members regularly frustrate me. >> reporter: it's important to get out of your own echo chamber. >> yes. >> reporter: for everyone. >> for everyone. >> reporter: keeping it civil, conversation agreements, online moderators and seeing each other as people. >> i see them, period. before, i didn't see them at all. >> reporter: the goal wasn't to chan

here is mark strassmann. >> reporter: confirming america's case of omicron jitters has no test and needseniably anxious. >> this is not a game. it is for real. >> we are in the midst of another covid-19 tsunami. >> reporter: omicron has exploded covid nationally like never before, with new cases rising in 46 states. america's averaging more than 750,000 new cases a day, a record. more than 20,000 daily hospitalizations, up 25%. and almost 2,000 daily deaths, up 37%. here in boston, new cases have almot doubled in massachusetts over the last two weeks. hospitalizations have almost doubled. and omicron's siege goes on. legal health experts expect those numbers to keep soaring for the rest of january. in short supply: hospital staff, hospital beds. pennsylvania is one of 49 states where service members reinforce the front lines of the covid response. also scarce: home tests. starting wednesday at covidtests.tests.com you can register for tests. >> i feel safer in these, than people around regular masks. >> reporter: she should. the agency now concedes that masks like n-95s, kn-95s, and surg

>> brennan: mark strassmann, thank you. we go to former f.d.a. commissioner dr.tt gottlieb, who also sits on the board of pfizer. good morning and happy new year. >> good morning. >> brennan: this is not how we wanted to start the new year, of course. doctor, how far out are we from the omicron peak, and do we need to focus on the infection rate or the hospitalization rate? >> doctor: we clearly need to focus on the hospitalization rate and how many people are becoming severely ill. there is a coupling between cases and i.c.u. admissions. it seems to be a milder case. i think the places hard hit, like the mid-atlantic, new england, florida, may be two weeks away from peaking, but the rest of the country faces a hard month ahead of us. i don't think we'll see a national peak until we get into february, and the virus will spread around the country. there is a clear coupling between cases and hospitalizations. and it does appear based on a lot of experimental evidence we've got tten in the last two weeks, it is a milder form of the coronavirus. the one group it may

mark strassmann, cbs news, la farge, wisconsin. >> o'donnell: you need your textbooks and a pair of longjohns ahead on tonight's "cbs evening news," two banks announce big changes in their overdraft fees. what it could mean for your finances. and how about them dogs? finances. and how about them dogs? downy unstopables in-wash scent boosters keep your laundry smelling fresh waaaay longer than detergent alone. pour a cap of downy unstopables into your washing machine before each load. and enjoy fresher smelling laundry. if you want laundry to smell fresh for weeks make sure you have downy unstopables in-wash scent boosters. shop online for downy unstopables, including our new, lighter scent. manhood looks different from guy to guy. but when yours bends in a different direction, you might feel bothered by it. so talk to a urologist. because a bend in your erection might be peyronie's disease or pd. it's a condition that involves a buildup of scar tissue. but, it's treatable. xiaflex is the only fda- approved nonsurgical treatment for appropriate adult men with peyronie's disease. along with dai

cbs' mark strassmann has more. >> reporter: a new year in our covid chronicles, welcomed by super-spreaderehavior, even reckless -- reckless, like many new year's resolutions, covid records get broken daily. the speed at which omicron is spreading is staggering. take these jarring u.s. numbers; a new average of 356,000 new cases a day. that's four more cases every second, on thursday 16 states reported their highest total ever. >> the numbers we're seeing, put that mask on and keep it on through january, at least, honestly. >> reporter: more ominously, those numbers could be fractional. driving this epideic, people who are undiagnosed, either asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic but untested. >> it is so busy, so packed. we have patients coming in all the time. >> reporter: more worry spots. hospitals, overwhelmed by sick patients and sick staff. >> the majority of the people are not vaccinated. i can't get them out of the fricking waiting room. he can't get the sick people out of the waiting room to get them away from these people with covid. >> reporter: on covid front lines the pentagon h

cbs' mark strassmann reports. >> reporter: with wind chill, ha when're a d fr wal t in this 9,000-acre preserve, this new kindergarten program embraces the benefits of outdoor learning. good morning!ng! >> reporter: and discovered a pandemic safe space. >> at the peak of an outbreak that we had, we had 28 active cases among students and staff. >> reporter: and how about in this program, how many kids? >> zero. >> reporter: none. coincidence? >> probably not. >> reporter: across covid america, 5400 schools report omicron surge has disrupted in- class learning, but not in portland, maine. >> we are still deeply inside a pandemic, and the response, in that phase one of getting teachers and students outside for health and safety. >> reporter: 17 schools in portland built outdoor learning spaces, plenty of winter gear and wifi. 6,700 students k through 12 spend part of their day outdoors. that's also true in lafarge, where kindergarten only looks like recess all day. >> nobody is bored, not ever, not ever. and they're so joyful and dthy outside.f epr: learn. e n, dodgeheee matrassmn, cbss,a