metra's new c-e-o spent his day defending metra's performance during this harsh winter. tonya francisco is *live at metra's western avenue stop with more. >> good morning. in his own words, the new ceo says it has been a rough three years for the commuter agency. i want to show you something interesting that we can only show you at this time. over my shoulder and you can see the fires burning. these are some of the problems that have led to the issues. the fires are burning on the rails to keep the switch is going. the ceos said yesterday if-touched this is only one that switching system but if one train gets backed up it can lead to 10 or 20, even 40 trains getting out of whack. but this is in interesting picture of these fires burning. yesterday we heard they are going to work on rebuilding the trust in the winter weary trail system. along with the other chiefs of the are tsa and cta are preparing to go before a lawmakers. the chief operating officer before being named ceo was the focus of questioning about the recent performance during the january polar vortexes that

a lot of metra trains will experience delays. some canceled due to the train derailment happened on the south side. it's basically call blocking three pairs of tracks preventing some of the trains from getting through. b. n s f 1216 not operating at all. any of the trains heading into a war or chicago, 30 minute delays. the one line i think this will change to the morning they may add more trains. your best alternate is the u p west line. other than that, a few buses have been rerouted as well including the 96 bus. our roads are looking good. no big accidents. everything moving along nicely. i saw a number of clouds out this morning really working the ramps. hoping to get this in good shape for commuters heading out this morning. >> coming up, the latest in the debate on banning gay marriage in indiana. >> and the biggest off-season acquisition for the white sox. details in sports. >> and don't know if your member but back in november to a guerrilla was born at the zoo. we are going to help you name that a guerrilla. you have the

the new head of metra will discuss the matter at a public hearing tonight. and the governor has put together a task force to look into the matter. as for the weather, you heard we will warmup into the '30's later this week. >>an autistic teenager was rescued from the ice on lake michigan near montrose harbor. the 13-year-old girl was walking with her mother along the lakefront sunday morning when she wandered onto the ice. her mother called 9-1-1 after the girl, who does not speak, got out of reach. divers from the chicago fire department's marine unit found her barefoot about 100 feet out on the ice and brought her back to shore. she was checked out at a hospital and appeared to be o-k. the police chief in gary says mother nature did what 246 police officers haven't been able to do. the cold weather contributed to a murder rate of zero in northwest indiana in the month of january. during a normal january, the area averages five killings. but the brutal cold and snow kept people in their homes so much last month, there were no disputes that escalated to dead

metra has given out warnings about possible delays and service disruptions. passengers are advised to allow extra time and to check metra's website for service updates. today's a bad day to be low on road salt, but that's what some suburbs are facing. elmhurst is one of the lucky ones. they say they just got a new supply yesterday morning. even chicago is watching its dwindling supply. the city is mixing its reserves with sand, to make it last longer. two strangers are responsible for saving a man and his dog from the icy waters of lake michigan. police say a man in his 40's was walking three dogs near montrose point yesterday evening. he fell in the lake trying to save one of his dogs. a couple of good samaritans heard the dogs barking along the bank, and saw the man and dog in the water. one woman called 9-1-1, while the man tried to pull the man and dog to safety. >> i was by myself. thank god someone came by. >> there was blood coming out of him. we knew things were getting bad. >> the man was pulled about half way the embankment before rescue teams got t

metra has only 36 spare cars out of a fleet of more than 800. during rush hours nearly all of them are in use. the agency will talk to railroads from as near as michigan and as far as vermont about leasing extra coaches when storms put more cars out of service. breaking news. a deadly day in the ukraine. 21 people killed today. one of them was a police officer. cnn reports they heard gunfire in independence square but we don't know who fired the shot. several bodies were seen covered in bloody sheets in the lobby of a hotel. all this comes hours after the president offered a truce. >>a warning to airlines to be extra vigilant in looking for explosives hidden in the shoes of travelers. the department of homeland security says intelligence from u-s and foreign agencies indicates terror groups have been working on new ways to hide shoe bombs. last night parboil jackpot had just one winning ticket sold near san jose california. it was purchased at a gas station worth more than $242 million in one lump sum payment. >>the union that represents a thous

we'll see if metra service improves a day after the storm. snow and ice caused switch problems and delayed trains during the evening rush. trains on the union pacific north line were 90 minutes behind schedule. there were also issues with vehicles getting stuck on track crossings. riders are advised to give themselves extra time and to check metra's website for service updates. all those snow days means an extended school year for chicago public schools. c-p-s cancelled school because of the snow and cold weather four times this year. those days are being made up on march 28-th and on three days that were added to the end of the school year. the last day of school is now june 13-th. american travelers to russia are being warned of a new terrorist threat, as the winter olympics get underway. >> as athletes from all over the world converged for the 2014 olympic games, a new concern of the security comes in a bulletin from the u.s. department of common security. >> a warning about this threat where explosives can be taken into this containers an

he'll be taking over as metra tries to keep trains on schedule during this brutal winter. oberman says he hopes to get rid of political patronage within the rail line. six board members have left since former c-e-o alex clifford resigned and received a large severance package. a teenager from crystal lake has been charged with felony battery and a hate crime. police say an 8-th grader at beardsley middle school brutally attacked a fellow student during lunch hour monday. omid babakhani is a competitive swimmer, and the son of an iranian immigrant. he says he had never met the other boy before... but without being provoked, the other boy insulted both him and his mother, then got physical, and broke both of his collar bones. >> he said you want to fight a black man? i said i don't want to. i walked away like they said to but it did not work and he came after me and put me in a headlock and for me on the ground and started to punched me in the head. >>the accused attacker turned himself in, and is being held at a kane county juvenile detention facility. at the winter olympic

metra has the latest. >> for morning headlines are, not including a recall of some cars. >> in a creative way that students are learning about students are learning about science. >>i don't have to listen to you! i wish you were dead! >> don't you ever talk to me like that! >> if you're the mother of a child with behavior problems, i'd like to talk to you. my name is janet lehman, and i'm a behavioral therapist and a mom. i know what it's like when the child that you love becomes a defiant, out-of-control child who disrespects you. that's why my husband james and i created the total transformation, the program that tens of thousands of moms are now using to turn around their child's behavior. if you've heard about the total transformation and wondered if it will work for you, now you can try it for free. i'm willing to give away

both metra and pace reported ridership declines of more than six percent, overall, ridership on local transit is now at its highest since 1990. the snow is off chicago streets, but the bitter cold is here to stay. the city's main streets are clean, but the side streets are a bit harder to navigate on. plows came through, but now parked cars are surrounded by mounds of ice. not only is the snow sticking around for a while, but more could be on the way this weekend. >> just waiting for the spring to roll in like a white knight on a horse. >> i can do with the smell >> i can't deal with the snow. >> and just crime right now. but just told each other for second. i feel warmer already. >>several suburbs are stretching their road salt to the limit, by mixing it with sand. but i-dot and the city of chicago say they have plenty and continue to get more. >> was that, holding on just a little bit longer? >> you may not know him but he's such a warm and lovable guy. >> we are all tired of this snow. no more. we are expecting more go coming into tomorrow ... today we avoid the snow but cold tempe

the metra remains closed. there's very limited traffic moving. very eerily quiet center of the city. schools are closed down until the 21st at least while the government tries to get a grip on all of this. trains coming from the west have been stopped or delayed, but trains from the south and the east, those are the pro yanukovych areas, the pro presidential areas are still coming into the city and civilians here in kiev have gone to the out erik roads to try to stop buses coming in with extra police and government reinforcements. still very much a standoff after a very terrible morning of violence here. >> is today's violence proof or a sign that opposition leaders are lose i go their grip on the protestors? >> it's certainly a concern. we know some were firing at police and that is a real problem. opposition leaders have repeatedly called on their followers to remain calm, not provoke police, not provoke security forces, and of course, there was a fire on both sides leeing a number of people dead, it's the kind of violence nobody seems to want