it's kind of an indescribable captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening, we often cover history around here and history was made today-- a world record jackpot. at least $640 million in the megamillions lottery. the odds of getting all six numbers numbers right are long. 1-176 million. today in new york state three million tickets were sold every hour and the same type of thing is happening in 41 other states. have a look at the lines in new york and in california this evening. the drawing is just a few hours away. john blackstone is at a johnstand in los angeles. john? >> reporter: hi, scott. well, that $640 million has brought a steady stream of buyers into buyers into this lottery ticket shop in los angeles. here they've sold more than 6,000 tickets today alone and across the across the country today americans have spent about $100 million million buying lottery tickets. a third of those tickets have been bought here in california. >> thank you, good luck. >> reporter: as the jackpot goads up, the lines get longer and people li

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: and this is a special western edition. good evening. it's the biggest night of the presidential primary season. ten states, four candidates for the republican nomination and 419 delegates at stake. cbs news projects mitt romney has won his home state of massachusetts. he also takes the state next door, vermont, and romney gets another "v" for victory in virginia. only he and ron paul were on the ballot there. newt gingrich wins his home state of georgia, so the lights stay on in his campaign. we estimate rick santorum is leading in oklahoma and he has a small lead as well in tennessee. and in the most closely watched race tonight, romney and santorum are locked in a very close race in ohio. we have a team of campaign 2012 correspondents covering super tuesday. first we'll go to jan crawford with the romney campaign in boston. jan? >> reporter: well, scott, after spending most of the past week battling it out in that key state of ohio, romney arrived here this afternoon in his home state of massac

i'm scott pelley. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening, it's the biggest night of the presidential primary season and as you just saw newt gingrich is on the board with a win in his home state georgia. mitt romney coming off four straight wins in the past two weeks is leading tonight in virginia and in vermont. with ten states voting, we're just getting started. we have a team of campaign 2012 correspondents covering super tuesday and we'll go first to jan crawford with the romney campaign in boston. jan? >> reporter: well, scott after spending most of the past week battling it out in that key state of ohio, romney arrived here in his home state late this afternoon and he sounded optimistic when he talked to reporters about his expectations for tonight. >> i said i'm hoping for a good win here in massachusetts and what happens elsewhere i don't know but i think we'll pick up a lot of delegates and this is a... this is a process of gatheri

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good eveningfor the second time in three days, tornadoes are hitting america's mid-section, brought by a line of powerful storms that stretch from the gulf coast all the way up to the great lakes. this is pekin, indiana, ten miles northwest of louisville, kentucky. the police tell us this tornado caused extensive damage there. this is henryville, indiana, population 1,900. homes and businesses have been flattened. the same thing happened in nearby mariesville. a police officer there says the village is "completely gone." at least three people have been killed in southern indiana. the storms are massive, as we saw in downtown nashville. this is 11 minutes of video that we compressed to show you how the storm hit music city. the emotions of this evening were caught in this picture of one survivor in alabama after he found the one possession that he may have wanted to save the most. there were also reports of tornadoes across northern alabama. one ripped part of the roof off a maximum security prison

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley reporting tonight from chicago. >> pelley: good evening from the state that gave us the first republican president-- abraham lincoln-- and where tonight mitt romney and rick santorum are competing for the chance to be the next one. the polls close in illinois at 8:00 eastern time and we've been talking to voters after their they cast their ballots today. 56% told us the most important issue is the economy and 46% of illinois voters told us they believe the economy is getting worse. we have a team of campaign 2012 correspondents covering the primary. first we'll go to jan crawford with the romney campaign in illinois. jan? >> reporter: well, scott, mitt romney not only wanted to win here but win decisively to try to erase any doubt about whether or not he can clinch the nomination >> i need you to go vote. >> earlier this month polls had romney with a slight lead. he expanded it in the past week with an aggressive campaign. he and the outside groups supporting him poured more than $3 million into television ads, mos

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening, the polls begin closing this super tuesday in just half an hour and we expect to have results in some of the ten states right away. until then, our top story comes from the white house where president obama went out of his way to steal some of the super tuesday spotlight from the republicans by holding his first news conference in three months. in a reference to some of his g.o.p. opponents, the president said people talking about war with iran don't understand the burdens of commander in chief. among the questioners today was chief white house correspondent norah o'donnell who joins us tonight. norah? >> reporter: and, scott, the president fiercely defended his iran policy and he accused his republican rivals of recklessly beating the drums of war with a lot of tough talk. the president said pointedly that war is "not a game." >> what's said on the campaign trail, you know, those folks don't have a lot of responsibilities. they're not commander-in-chief. and when i see the casualnes

so rightly or wrongly, scott, this is being laid a at mr. obama's doorstep. >> pelley: but is there much a president can do about the price of gasoline? >> one thing a president can do is tap into the strategic petroleum reserves, scott, our emergency oil supply. it's only supposed to be used in the event of severe supply disruptions but president obama did tap into it last june and gas prices fell about three cents a gallon over the next two weeks. but they'd already been on their way down for a month, so it's difficult to tell, scott, what impact that move had. >> pelley: you were telling us last week about the role wall street plays, people investing in oil futures. >> it's a big one and growing, scott. the amount of money being bet on oil prices going higher has hit record levels in recent weeks. by several estimates it's added about $20 a barrel to the price of oil or 50 cents to every gallon of gas at the pump and there's not much, scott, the president can do about that. >> pelley: anthony, thanks very much. legendary football coach joe paterno was fired by penn

for all of us at cbs news all around the world, i'm scott pelley.see you sunday on "60 minutes." captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >>> now, "entertainment tonight," the most watched entertainment nug magazine in the world. >>> are george and stacy on the rocks. is demi about to tell all to oprah? the truth behind the new rumors. >>> plus, the latest on paula deen's health. her new interview about her diabetes controversy and does she really heat that krispy kreme burger. >>> the world's hottest new boy band. one direction. meet harry, liam, louis,

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. maybe you can uncross your fingers now. after the worst economic recovery ever recorded, there is new evidence that hiring is real and picking up speed. the the labor department told us today that employers added nearly a quart million jobs last month. and growth in the previous two months was stronger than first reported look at how far we've come. those bars way over on the less are the job losses from 2008, 2010. eight million jobs lost now three million are back. the unemployment rate didn't change last month. but the rate didn't drop because, in a stronger economy, more people are jumping back into the labor pool. can all of this last? we asked anthony mason. >> reporter: at ring's end lumber and hardware in derian, connecticut, owner david campbell is growing increasingly confident about the economy. was there at point at which you said, "i thing things are okay now"? >> about six months ago. >> reporter: so campbell is expanding his business. you're hiring? >> yes, we've hired

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. staff sergeant robert bales talked for the first time today to the lawyer who will defend him of the massacre of civilians in afghanistan. his attorney tells us tonight bales has no memory of what happened a week ago when 16 afghans-- including nine children-- were shot dead in their homes. bales' wife expressed her sorrow in a statement today. karilyn bales called the killings "a terrible and heart- breaking tragedy." she said, "what has been reported is completely out of character of the man i know and admire." her statement ends with this: "the victims and their families are all in my prayers, as is my husband who i love very much." we'll have our interview with sergeant bales' attorney in just a moment but first, bill whitaker in washington state has been learning a lot about the troubles in bales' life. >> reporter: movers pulled up to the suburban tacoma house where staff sergeant robert bales lived with his wife and two young children and packed up the family's belongings. his

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening, it was an extraordinary moment at the white house today. the president made his first public comments about trayvon martin, the unarmed florida teenager who was shot to death by a neighborhood watch volunteer. president obama spoke not only as the president but as an african american parent. he said "when i think about this boy, i think about my own kids." >> i think all of just to do some soul searching to figure out how does something like this happ happen. and that means that we examine the laws and the context for what happened as well as the specifics of the incident. but my main message is to the parents of trayvon martin. if i had a son, he'd look like trayvon. >> pelley: it was a sunday night a month ago in sanford, florida. ray von martin, a high school student never in trouble with the law, was on on an errand when he caught the eye of neighborhood watch captain george zimmerman. zimmerman confronted martin. zimmerman says the shooting that resulted was self-defense. today

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good eveningthis week, president obama and the israeli prime minister discussed when and whether to go to war to stop iran from building a nuclear weapon. well, today, six nations, including the u.s., russia, and china, urged iranian president mahmoud al ahmadinejad to open s nuclear facilitie facilities to inspectors. tonight we're going to hear from a man who usually knows the most and says the least. he's mire debegan, the former head of israeli intelligence. in a rare interview for "60 minutes," lesley stahl asked him about the question of war. >> reporter: you have said publicly that bombing iran now is the stupidest idea you've ever heard. that's a direct quote. >> an attack on iran before you explore all other approaches is not the right way how to do. >> reporter: the dispute seems to come down, though, to whether you are at the end of everything that you can try or whether you have a lot of time left to try other things, which seems to be your position. >> i never said that it's a lot of

there's much more ahead on the cbs evening news with scott pelley. l see you back here >> pelley: tonight, war on peace with iran. >> the prime minister and i prefer to resolve this diplomatically. >> pelley: but it wasn't exactly eye to eye. >> israel must reserve the right to defend itself. >> pelley: norah o'donnell on a frank white house meeting. who's leading ahead of super tuesday. reports from jan crawford and dean reynolds. dr. jon lapook reports on a link between poor sleep and bad behavior in children. and now greater power, no greater love. lee cowan with a father who battled a tornado with a child in each arm. >> it broke my heart because i promised her i wouldn't let go. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening, president obama and israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu met in the oval office today. the subject was war, whether history was made we won't know for a while.

much more on the cbs evening news with scott pelley, including why the number of >> pelley: tonight,vidence from the man who buried trayvon trayvon martin. the funeral director tells mark strassmann there's no sign martin was in a fight before he was killed by a neighborhood watch watch volunteer. is there an epidemic of autism? cases have doubled in six years. michelle miller has today's surprising new report. with gas prices so high, will the recovery suffer? anthony mason has the story. and 30 years after ground was broken on the vietnam memorial, barry peterson shows us three decades of love left behind. >> >> when people leave things at the wall, people let go of their grief. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. the d the defense of george zimmerman rests on a violent fight that he says occurred before he fired the shot that killed trayvon mart martin. zimmerman is the neighborhood watch volunteer at the center of the case. it was almost five

there's much more ahead on the cbs evening news with scott pelley. of the stories they're covering today, the deadly tornadoes that continue to ravage communities. how two new warning systems could help save lives before they strike. >> pelley: tonight, the calm between the storms. survivors of tornadoes that showed no mercy pick up the pieces of their lives while forecasters warn of even stronger twisters tomorrow. reports from dean reynolds and mark strassmann. michelle miller has learned more about the life of the boy charged today in the ohio school shootings. the man who stopped him speaks out. >> i'm not a hero. just a football coach and a study hall teacher. >> pelley: jim axelrod takes us to an american factory that's taking jobs away from china. and bill whitaker with a rock on a roll. a roll. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. it is the last thing people in the midwest want to hear, but another powerful storm is on the way. and it could bring more tornadoes to the region tom

much more ahead on the cbs evening news with scott pelley, including tensions continue to rise. the former head of israeli intelligence is saying about a , >> pelley: tonight, he knows more about iran's nuclear program than just about anyone. because it was his job to stop it. >> reporter: you have said publicly that bombing iran now is the stupidest idea you've ever heard. >> pelley: the former head of israel's mossad talks to lesley stahl. the most viral video ever. ben tracy on who's behind it and what the motive might be. gas prices continue to rise. anthony mason tells us what and who is driving them up. and one year after the tsunami. bill whitaker takes us back to japan where the healing has barely begun. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. this week, president obama and the israeli prime minister discussed when and whether to go to war to stop iran from building a nuclear weapon. well, today, six nations, including the u.s., russia, and china, urged iranian president

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good eveningergeant robert bales talked for the first time today to the lawyer who will defend him of the massacre of civilians in afghanistan. his attorney tells us tonight bales has no memory

but for now, scott, zimmerman remains free, not charged with any crime. >> pelley: but, bob, if there's a grand jury down in florida, why is the federal department of justice getting involved at this point? >> reporter: well, part of it, scott, is an effort to tone down the public clamor, there's a wide range of feeling that justice hasn't been done here so the federal government wants to go in and take a fresh look and see if there's evidence supporting prosecution for a hate crime. also, local officials have asked for federal review. it was clear to everybody that the controversy was not fading on its own. >> pelley: bob, thanks. mexico got a big jolt today from a magnitude 7.4 earthquake. it was centered in the south, but buildings shook all over the country. in mexico city, offices were evacuated. a pedestrian bridge collapsed on to a mini bus. but there were no reports of deaths. president obama's 13-year-old caught the hear leia is on a school-sponsored trip in the earthquake zone but the white house says she was never in danger. the top commander in afghanistan went before congre

there is much more ahead on the cbs evening news with scott pelley. among the stories they're covering today, a dramatic day, too, as the supreme court takes up president obama's healthcare law. and of course, we'll have many other updates on stories throughout the world. and we, of course, invite you to come back here and join us for eyewitness news at 11:00. we now take you to new york, and the cbs evening news with >> pelley: tonight, can the president's health care law survive the supreme court? we learned a lot today from the justices and their tough questions. >> what is left? if the government can do this, what else can it's not do? >> pelley: jan crawford was in the courtroom. an emergency landing after an airline captain becomes incoherent. and the passengers intervene. bob orr has the story. wildfires turn deadly in the colorado mountains. barry petersen is on the scene. and seth doane on a hey school that saves lives. turning addicts into graduates. >> for me sobriety is life. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with

(cheers and applause) captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. eporting tonight from washington. >> pelley: good evening. can the federal government force you to buy something whether you want it or not? that is the question before a historic session of the supreme court.

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening, president obama and israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu met in the oval office today. the subject was war, whether history was made we won't know for a while. israel wants support to stop iran from developing an atomic bomb. mr. obama is counseling patience determined not to repeat the intelligence mistakes that led to war with iraq. chief white house correspondent norah o'donnell has been talking to her sources and she joins us from the white house tonight. norah? >> reporter: scott, the president today tried to convince the israeli prime minister to give diplomacy more time to work. it's not clear if mr. obama was able to secure a firm commitment from netanyahu that he would delay a military strike against iran >> our commitment to the security of israel is rock solid. >> reporter: president obama worked to reassure the israeli leader that when it comes to nuclear iran their goal is one and the same. >> i reserve all options and my policy here is not going to be one of contai

it's kind of an indescribable captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening, we often cover history around here and history was made today-- a world record jackpot. at least $640 million in the megamillions lottery. nue odds of getting all six

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good eveningte today we heard for the first time the details from inside the cockpit of that harrowing mental breakdown suffered by a jetblue captain. the copilot says the

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good eveningpentagon is drawing up plans for military action in syria, although the defense secretary said today that would be a last resort. for almost a year syria's dictator, bashar al-assad, has been killing his own peop

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. this is a special western eddies, good evening. as the critical test tonight for the republican presidential candidates battling it out in primaries in the deep south. the polls are closed now, and in alabama and mississippi based on our exit polls in alabama first, cbs news estimates that rick santorum has a slight edge but in mississippi exit polls indicate it is a close three way race, santorum, mitt romney and newt gingrich, a key voting group there, of conservatives are split almost evenly among santorum, romney and gingrich, we have campaign 2012 correspondents with the candidates tonight and first we will go to wyatt andrews in liberty, missouri with the romney campaign, wyatt. >> scott, mitt romney is running very strongly in both miss ssippi and in alabama and it is because of one key statistics the high percentage of voters that say the economy is their number one issue and that mitt romney is the best candidate to take on the economy. romney did not wait in the deep south

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good eveningbe you can uncross your fingers now. after the worst economic recovery ever recorded, there is new evidence that hiring is real and picking up speed. the the labor department told us today that employers added nearly a quart million jobs last month. and growth in the previous two months was stronger than

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. if you're one of the millions of americans invested in the stock market maybe through your 401(k) plan, chances are your nest egg is worth more tonight than when you left for work this morning. stocks reached heights today that we haven't seen in years. have a look. the dow gained more than 217 points, closing at 13,177. that's the highest close since december of '07. the nasdaq posted its highest finish since december of 2000. an and the s&p 500, the highest since june of '08. look at look at how far the dow has come in just five months. it is it is up nearly 24%. j.p. morgan chase sparked the market advance today when it announced that it passed the federal reserves latest test that that examines whether a bank is healthy enough to stand a severe recession. anth anthony mason has more now about about the results of these so- called stress tests. anthony. >> mason: the federal reserve conducts the stress test every year but this is the first time time since 2009 it's made the result

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. late today we heard for the first time the details from inside the cockpit of that harrowing mental breakdown suffered by a jetblue captain. the copilot says the captain scolded air traffic controllers for making too much noise then turned off all the radios in the cockpit and finally told the copilot they weren't going to make it to their destination. captain clayton osbon was charged today with interfering with a flight crew. he's hospitalized in amarillo, texas, where the new york-to-las vegas flight made its emergency landing yesterday. lee cowan is at the airport in vegas with the copilot's statement and the stories of the passengers. lee? >> reporter: scott, as you say, we're learning a lot more about the pilot of that jetblue flight. turns out, his wife told investigators she didn't notice anything unusual when he went to work yesterday but a just- released f.b.i. affidavit you were talking about details what the copilot told investigators and he told a disturbing picture that

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good eveningting with weather and climate tonight because 300 temperature records have been matched or broken so far this week. take a look at the temperature map today.

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. in the fight over president obama's health care law, this was the main event. today the nine justices of the supreme court heard arguments on the part of the law that requires all americans to have health insurance or pay a fine. it's called the individual mandate. the obama administration says the mandate will make sure that everyone has health care, while keeping insurance affordable. but opponents say it is a dangerous new power for the government, forcing citizens to buy a product. in a rare move, the supreme court is releasing audio tapes of the arguments, jan crawford was a witness to history in the courtroom today. jan? >> reporter: well, scott, the health care law is considered president obama's signature achievement, but today in that court it appeared a majority of the justices were ready to describe the individual mandate another way: unconstitutional. the conservative justices and that key swing justice, anthony kennedy, expressed serious doubt about the law. justice kenn

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley reporting tonight from chicago. >> pelley: and this is a special western edition. good evening. the polls are closed here in illinois in the republican presidential primary. it's too soon to project a winner yet but cbs news estimates that mitt romney has the lead over rick santorum based on exit polls and an analysis of the early vote count so far. 56% of voters today told us that the economy was the biggest factor in deciding on a candidate and half of those went for romney. we have a team of campaign 2012 correspondents covering the primary. first we'll go to jan crawford with the romney campaign in illinois. jan? >> reporter: well, scott, here at romney's election night party the band is playing, the crowd you can hear is cheering, they're expecting some very good results from illinois. now, romney not only wanted to win illinois but win it decisively to try to erase any doubt about whether or not he can clinch the nomination. >> i need you to go vote! >> earlier this month polls had romney with a slight lead.

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. it is the last thing people in the midwest want to hear, but another powerful storm is on the way. and it could bring more tornadoes to the region tomorrow. the greatest risk is in ohio and indiana, and down in kentucky and tennessee. twisters ripped through missouri, tennessee, illinois, and kansas yesterday, killing 13 people and leaving the picturese that summed it all up for us today, picturees of relief that a grbs of spared in harrisburg, illinois. realization that most everything you've worked for is gone. and reflection on how much life can change in an instant. dean reynolds is in bridgeway, illinois, tonight. dean. >> reporter: scott, it's taken us a couple of days of driving around and surveying the damage to get a real sense of the power of this tornado and how it chewed up just about everything it touched. bit by bit, piece by piece, they tried to bring some order out of the chaotic landscape. donald davis sifted the debris in what was left of his harrisburg home. >so th

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. the defense of george zimmerman rests on a violent fight that he says occurred before he fired the shot that killed trayvon martin. zimmerman is the neighborhood wa watch volunteer at the center of the case. it was almost five weeks ago that martin, the unarmed 17- year-old, was killed after zimmerman found him suspicious. we don't know what happened immediately before the shot was fired, but mark strassmann joins us tonight with important new evidence in the case. mark? >> reporter: scott, trayvon martin was buried in miami with a gunshot wound to the chest, but otherwise, according to richard kurtz, the funeral director who prepared martin for burial, his body showed no injuries. >> we could see no physical signs, like there had been a scuffle, there had been a fight. you know, the hands, i didn't see any knuckles... bruises or what have you, and that is something we would have covered up if it would have been there. >> reporter: and the surveillance tape shows george zimmerman in

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. they came after midnight when most folks were sleeping. by the time the sun rose today, survivors could see what had terrified them in the night. from a helicopter over harrisburg, illinois, you can follow the path that one tornado took, buildings blown apart on their foundations, winds as high as 170 miles an hour did this. and harrisburg was not alone. 27 tornadoes have been reported. at least nine people are dead, more than 150 injured. the resort town of branson, missouri, is hit hard. the storm system moved east. tornado watches and warnings were posted from mississippi to ohio. we have two correspondents in the disaster area. first, dean reynolds in harrisburg, illinois. dean. >> reporter: scott, just have a look at this behind me here. this used to be a strip mall here in harrisburg, and as you can see, it has been completely, utterly pulverized. the governor of the state declared this part of southern illinois a disaster area today, and if you just look around me, you can see

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. by many measures, football is practiced by the nfl as the most popular product in america. $10 billion a year in revenues, nearly 160 million viewers of the last super bowl. but tonight, the value of the league is being measured by how it has responded to a scandal. the commissioner, roger goodell, has just imposed unprecedented sanctions against the new orleans saints, finding team management was in on a scheme to pay players to injure opponents enough to force them out of the game. armen keteyian reports on the nfl putting the so-called bounty program out of business. >> reporter: pounding away at all-pro quarterbacks like curt werner and brett favre, the new orleans saints marched through the play-offs and all the way to a super bowl title in 2010. today, in a knockout blow of his own, n.f.l. commissioner roger goodell delivered an unmistakable message about the scheme fueling the saints' success. >> i don't think you can be too hard on people that put at risk our players' health

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening, the pentagon is drawing up plans for military action in syria, although the defense secretary said today that would be a last resort. for almost a year syria's dictator, bashar al-assad, has been killing his own people, tr trying to crush a popular uprising. more than 7,000 civilians have died. his army buried the city of homs in artillery fire. homs, a city of more than a million people and a center of the resistance, fell last thursday. today assad let a u.n. representative into homs to see the the devastation. there was almost nobody there. the u.n. says that assad has committed crimes against humanity. today for the first time the obama here's david martin. >> reporter: with the syrian army's assault on the opposition gather gathering steam, president obama has directed the pentagon to begin preliminary planning for what had once been all but ruled out, military intervention. jo joint chiefs chairman general martin dempsey told the senate arms ser arms services committee the mili

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. we're starting with weather and climate tonight because 300 temperature records have been matched or broken so far this week. take a look at the temperature map today. with all that orange in the east and midwest, all those 70s, this looks like a map that you might see in early summer. this is the warmest march 14 on record in milwaukee, 77 degrees; st. louis, 83 degrees; and chicago, 81. dean reynolds is in chicago and we asked him about the winter that wasn't. >> reporter: the sunny skies and balmy temperatures are bringing a smile to the face of thomas g. byrne, chicago's commissioner of streets and sanitation. is this a blessing? >> i think it's a blessing. it's not only a blessing for the city but these people that are living in the neighborhood. their heat bills alone, everybody should be thankful for what happened out here this winter and we're very pleased on what we've seen so far. >> reporter: last year, nearly five feet of snow fell on chicago. this year it's less than 20

pelle evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: g >> pelley:sures, football is practiced by the nfl as the most popular product in america. $10 billion a year in revenues, nearly nearly 160 million viewers of te last super bowl. but tonight, th