: good evening, i'm ed o'keefe.na diaz is off. mother nature has brutalized part of the country yet again as deadly storms scraped across at least six states overnight, causing what's likely to be the deadliest american weather disaster in more than four years. meteorologists haven't made final determinations, but by all accounts the dam is historic. look at this: the path of destruction stretches across parts of arkansas, mississippi, missouri, tennessee, illinois and kentucky. dozens are feared dead and debris in some places launched seven miles high. the bluegrass state of kentucky is among the hardest hit, so we begin there tonight with cbs' david begnaud in mayfield, kentucky. good evening. >> reporter: good evening. this is the downtown, and as you look right to left, just about everything has been hit, and most of everything has been leveled. as you look everywhere around here, mayfield is a town that dates back to the 19th century. they boast on their website they still manufacture things they sell in mayfie

takes a direct hit. >> i'm jenna rae in illinois where responders are digging through rubble. >> o'keefeher wreaking havoc across the country, snow in the midwest, heat in the northeast. more ahead. also covid comeback, the delta

>> ed o'keefe, thank you. >>> well, now we have a story that offers hope to patients battling severe cases of covid. it's also a story of gratitude to health care workers who go above and beyond their duty to save lives. here is cbs' meg oliver. >> so excited to see you. >> reporter: we first met 35-year-old hillary lee from montana in early october. >> hillary. >> reporter: on a ventilator and ecmo machine, clinging to life. her mom pamela praying for a miracle. >> love you too. >> reporter: do you remember when she tried to wave to you? >> oh, my gosh. >> yeah, that was -- that was -- that was tough. >> reporter: the young restaurant manager was to be get vaccinated when she got covid. >> my symptoms were so, so, so mild, i never thought i would have been in that position ever. >> reporter: but two weeks later, she was rushed to billings clinic. >> the fact that we had a bed for her was nothing short of a miracle. >> reporter: kelsey purdue was hillary's nurse. at the time their icu was overflowing with covi

major. >> ed o'keefe, thank you so much. tonight officials at the zoo in naples, florida, are considering increased security around animal enclosures, this after a worker got too close to a tiger and was attacked. the man recovering and the tiger was put down the body cam footage is graphic. here is cbs's omar villafranca. >> i'm being attacked by a tiger, please, please, please. >> reporter: this was the desperate call made to 911 from a man being attacked by a tiger. >> are you in the cage. no, just outside of it, he's got my hand. >> the tiger has your hand? yeah. >> reporter: body cam video shows the gruesome scene wednesday evening as florida deputies rush to the tiger exhibit at the naples zoo. >> please help me! >> reporter: where they found 26-year-old river rosenquist screaming for help, his blood idea arm in the jaws of a tiger. >> got a tranquilizer? >> reporter: they tried banging on the fence to scare the tiger but ultimately deputies were forced to shoot and kill the eight-year-old tiger. rosenquist was airlift

norah. >> o'donnell: ed o'keefe, thank you. well, now, we have a story that offers hope to patients battling severe cases of covid. it's also a story of gratitude to healthcare workers who go above and beyond their duty to save lives. here's cbs' meg oliver. >> i'm so excited to see you. ( laughs ). >> reporter: we first met 35-year-old hillary lee from montana in early october. hillary. >> reporter: on a ventilator and ecmo machine, clinging to life. her mom, pam lee, praying for a miracle. >> i love you, too. >> reporter: do you remember when she tried to wave to you? >> oh, my gosh. >> yeah, that was-- that was-- that was tough. >> reporter: the young restaurant manager was about to get vaccinated when she got covid. >> my symptoms were so, so, so mild. i never would have thought i would have been in that position ever. >> reporter: but two weeks later, she was rushed to billings clinic. >> the fact that we had a bed for her was nothing short of a miracle. >> reporter: kelsey purdue was hillary's nurse. at the time, their i.

major. >> garrett: ed o'keefe, thank you.ht, there are two storm systems that could make for messy driving conditions for holiday travelers on both coasts. parts of new england will get snow and freezing rain tonight, while in the west, the sierras could get up to 10 feet of snow by the end of the week, making driving treacherous along interstate 80.seere, rn anndl disrupt travel in the bay area tomorrow, and in los angeles thursday.ay. there was als there was also severe weather in florida today. a tornado touched down in south fort myers, damaging several homes.st one person was hur at least one person was hurt. americans are hitting the stores, frantically searching for those last-minute gifts. finding them is one thing, of course getting them there on time quite another. here is cbs' janet shamlian. >> reporter: 'tis the night before the christmas panic... ♪ ♪ ♪ when all through the stores, like houston's fundamentally toys, procrastinators paced the aisles. and you waited until last minute because... >> it's like that ev

cbs's ed o'keefe is there. >> reporter: president biden today tried leveling with a weary nation. >> start by acknowledging how tired, worried, and frustrated i know you are. >> reporter: he assured those who are vaccinated and have a boonter shot that they should be abili able to gather over the holidays but also had a stark warning for americans who don't have their shots. >> almost everyone who has died from covid-19 in the past many months has been unvaccinated. >> reporter: 68 million people are still unvaccinated and of the more than 200 million who are fully vaccinated, only 30% have that critical booster shot. >> just the other day, former-president trump announced he got his booster shot. maybe one of the few things he and i agree on. people with booster shots are highly protected. >> reporter: with growing testing lines around the country, the president announced plans to distribute 500 million at-home testing kits next month, available for order online for free. and new federal testing sites will be opening nationwide, first in densely populated new york city. to deal with

we're joined by some of our beat correspondents, including ed o'keefe, jan crawford, and weijia jiang is cbs news senior white house correspondent. and david martin is also here, and finally, nikole killion, who is cbs news congressional correspondent. it is good to have you all and see your bright, shiny faces in person. nikole, this has been eight months of infighting and tangling over the build back better spending bill that the white house has really made a signature issue for the president. is it dead on arrival? or is this just on life support in 2022? >> i think life perce support is a better way to look at it. i don't think democrats are going to give this up without a fight, and joe manchin has resisting all along, whether it is the impact that build back better could have on the economy and inflation. so while right now it looks like democrats are kind of at this stalemate, again, i think you will see democratic leadership really try to prod him over these next couple of weeks to get on board. >> brennan: doesn't this hurt democrats, the longer this drags on? >> i think what

we're joined by some of our beat correspondents, including ed o'keefe, jan crawford, and weijia jiang senior white house correspondent. and david martin is also here, and finally, nikole killion, who is cbs news congressional correspondent. it is good to have you all and see your bright, shiny faces in person. nikole, this has been eight months of infighting and tangling over the build back better spending bill tha

we get the latest from cbs' ed o'keefe at the white house. >> reporter: the white house tonight refusingon the president's top legislative priority... >> we are going to continue to take steps and work like hell to get it done. >> reporter: ...after key democratic senator joe manchin dashed any hopes for its passage on sunday. >> i cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation. i jst can't. >> reporter: the decision stunned the white house. they called it a breech of his commitments to the president, but manchin has always been concerned with the size and scope of the president's plan. today, the senator blamed white house staff without offering details. >> tax the rich! >> reporter: and the far left for trying to pressure him. >> well, guess what? i'm from west virginia. i'm not from where they're from and they can just beat the living crap out of people and think they will be submissive, period. >> reporter: machin's objections put it all at risk. nearly $2 trillion to fight climate change, expand childcare, medicare and the universal pre-k programs put at risk, and it would h

parents who are standing up for the rights of their children and the doj hunting journalists like james o'keefeclient who happens to be a critic of this administration and has uncovered corruption. from our doj which was less active and should have been under trump for advancing american interest in civil rights in our courts you have the exact opposite, absolutely biased, out-of-control and there seems to be almost no oversight happening in the house or the senate on these issues. laura: one quick question before we go, your thoughts on this. earlier tonight, new york city, passed a bill giving noncitizens the right to vote in city elections. is this a sign of things to come? >> absolutely. this is happening in different cities around the united states? in san francisco even illegal alien parents can vote in school board election so to my surprise when i looked this up to file a lawsuit to challenge it, it is not illegal for this to happen. you can expect to see it happening all over the place and city governments are not trivial. they give a lot of benefits and contracts, and a lot of those w

the rights of their children and finally you have the doj hunting journalists, like my client james o'keefeppens to be a critic of this administration and is uncovering corruption. from our doj which was far less active than it should have been under trump for advancing civil rights and our courts we have the exact opposite, absolutely biased, out of control and unfortunately there seems to be almost no oversight happening in the house or the senate on these issues. >> laura: it's infuriating but one quick question before we go, your thoughts on this. earlier tonight the new york city council, they passed a bill giving permanent residents, noncitizens, the right to vote in city elections. is this just a sign of things to come? >> absolutely. this has been happening throughout the united states. we have it in san francisco where either illegal aliens, the parents can vote and school board elections. to my surprise when i look this up as a lawyer to see if i could file a lawsuit, it is not illegal under federal law for this to happen and it's a wave. you can expect to see it happening all ove

we get the latest from cbs's ed o'keefe at the white house. >> reporter: the white house tonight refusinggive up on the president's top legislative priority. >> we are going to continue to take steps, work like hell to get it done. >> reporter: after key democratic senator joe manchin dashed any hopes for its passage on sunday. >> i cannot vote to continue i just can't. >> reporter: the decision stunned the white house. they called it a breach of his commitments to the president. but manchin has always been concerned with the size and scope of the president's plan. today the senator blamed white house staff without offering details. >> they drove some things and they put some things out that were absolutely inexcusable. >> tax the rich! >> reporter: and the far left for troying to pressure him. >> well, guess what? i'm from west virginia. i'm not from where they're from and they can just beat the living crap out of people and think they'll be submissive. period. >> reporter: manchin's objections put much of the president's agenda at risk. nearly $2 trillion to ex-fight climate change, exp

richardson, greg lily, mark hernandez, jenny wright, adam barker, allen edwards, katie magnus, sean o'keefe brad patu, jason potter, brad slattery, katie sutton, eric cater, adam tool, t.c. williams, robert winkler andy caputo. from my staff, i had luke holland, dan hillen gillibrand gillibrand -- hillen hillengillibrandester solders, alexandra slokerm, dixon yonin, a lacey burke, what would we do without her and we have the floor staff. nobody mentions them and we couldn't operate without them and they were really busy on this bill and that's robert dunkon, chris tuck, tony han began, --hanagan, max ford, and i'm grateful for all of their services. this is only half the battle. we have to go through and after we made the priorities that we made, the appropriators will get busy to do what they have done to be a part of this effort that was the most significant effort that we're having. so today i encourage all of my colleagues to suffer this national defense authorization act, i know they will, and extend our 60-year track record of getting this bill done. let's tell the troops that we love