tara mergener has the latest. >> reporter: ordering a pentagon investigation of one of the nation's highest profile u.s. military officials. general john allen, the man who succeeded david petreaus as head of the international forces in afghanistan is linked to the investigation involving his predecessor. secretary of defense leon panetta says the fbi has turned the case over to department of defense investigators. the senior u.s. defense official says the inquiry centers around potentially inappropriate e-mails with jill kelley, the florida woman who sparked an investigation that led to petreaus' resignation as head of the cia. >> if you know my sister like i said, she is a dedicated mother and wife. >> reporter: kelley went to the fbi when she received threatening e-mails from an anonymous source. those were allegedly linked to paula broadwell. broadwell was having an affair with petreaus and reportedly believed kelley was a romantic rival for his attention. monday night investigators searched broadwell's home. agents didn't say what they were looking for but carried out boxes and a compu

tara mergener for cbs news, capitol hill. >> now more comprehensive tax reform could be put off till the new year. get this. a new poll shows 51% of americans, a majority, do not believe the congress and white house will get that deal done. >>> a six-month old baby girl found alone in a motel room and tests positive for cocaine. all this according to fredricksburg.com. the toddler was found tuesday night at the motel 6 on warrenton road in fredricksburg. the girl's mother kristin fay clark showed up about an hour after the deputies got there and was arrested. deputies also found a crack pipe in the room. clark is apparently pregnant with another child. >>> your next commute could be a little less congested. the 495 express lanes from braddock road to tysons corner will be open tomorrow. santa claus was out there today giving it a test drive. there he is. anybody who has an e-zpass or smarttag will be able to use the lanes. of course you'll be charged a toll. if you're driving with more than three people, consider getting a flex pass. that will allow you to ride for free. what do you

tara mergener has more. >>reporter: president barack obama sat down with congressional leaders as democrats as republicans look for a way to avoid the fiscal cliff. if the two sides don't reach a budget deal before the end of the year, automatic spending cuts and tax hikes will kick in and possibly throw the economy back into a recession. >> so our challenge is to make sure that we are able to cooperate together, work together, find some common ground. >>reporter: the president is promising $4.4 trillion in budget cuts over the next 10 years. he also wants $1.6 trillion in new revenue, including higher taxes on families making more than $250,000 a year. >> a modest tax increase on the wealthy is not going to break their backs. >>reporter: but republicans say they will not agree to a deal that includes tax hikes. >> an opening bid of $1.6 trillion in new taxes just isn't serious. >>reporter: but one possible solution might include a plan that mitt romney proposed during the presidential campaign. the republic

tara mergener has more. >> reporter: at $82 million, it was the most expensive congressional race and a must win for democrats trying to keep control of the senate. cbs news projects tim kaine wins the virginia senate race. >> our victory tonight proves that it's the number of people who stand with you, not the number of zeros behind the check. >> reporter: cbs news projects former obama administration official elizabeth warren defeated scott brown. more than $72 million were spent on the race for the massachusetts senate seat. the democrats picked up a seat with the win. >> this victory belongs to you. >> reporter: cbs news projects democrats will retain a majority in the senate and the house will stay in republican control. so capitol hill could be on track for more gridlock. in wisconsin, democrat tammy baldwin became the first openly gay person to win a u.s. senate seat by defeating tommy thompson. republicans were supposed to gain a senate seat in missouri. cbs news projects claire mccaskill will keep her seat. >> you'll have a voice in the united states senate that makes you pro

tara mergener is in washington with details. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. jill kelly took her concerns to the fbi several months ago eventually exposing the affair. now congress is demanding more details. cbs news has learned this woman 37-year-old jill kelly triggered an fbi investigation leading to the resignation of cia director david petraeus. petraeus resigned friday after word got out he was having an affair with his biographer paula broadwell. his resignation caught many on capitol hill offguard. >> it was like a lightning bolt. >> reporter: kelly went to the fbi after allegedly receiving emails from broadwell warning her to back off and to stay away from her guy. broadwell made this comment about petraeus during a publicity tour last february. >> i think he's a terrific role model for young people. >> reporter: congressional leaders are going to start an inquiry of their own. they want to know why they weren't informed of the fbi investigation before it became public. >> this is something that could have had an effect on national security. i think w

tara mergener for cbs news, the white house. >>> cbs moneywatch time now on a thursday. worries about the fiscal cliff are already affecting stocks around the world. erica ferrari with more on that. >> reporter: asian markets tumbled over worries about the looming budget crisis here in the u.s. the nikkei lost 1.5%. hit a three week closing low. hong kong's hang seng fell more than 2%. the uncertainty of a divided government sent stocks plunging on wall street. the dow had its worst day of the year falling nearly 313 points to finish below 13,000 for the first time since early august. nasdaq gave up 74 points. and this morning greek lawmakers narrowly passed a new round of austerity measures in an effort to secure new bail out funds. protesters opposed to the measure battled with police outside of parliament. police used tear gas and stun guns when some tried to enter the parliament building. the greek prime minister said without the bailout the government will run out of money this month. and if you plan to fly on the thanksgiving holiday expect busy airports, packed pl

tara mergener, for cbs news, the white house. >>> now, the president is set to speak at 1:00. we will be streaming it live on our web site. wusatv9.com. >>> former democratic national committee chair terry mcauliffe is running for political office and sent an e-mail announcing he will run for governor of virginia. he tried for governor last year but lost in the democratic provide mare. since the current governor republican bob mcdonald cannot run again, they are seeking the republican nomination. >>> this election day, maryland became one of the three states to pass the same-sex marriage by popular vote. the first weddings take place in january but as chris fisher report, one local company has been planning these kinds of weddings for the last 13 years. >> same-sex weddings may be new to maryland but not catherine. >> the web site is gay weddings.com. we are a comprehensive planning resource for same-sex couples. i am a straight mom, i am proud to say, she founded the company in 1999 and people thought she was crazy because no one thought this would be something that could hap

commander overseas. >> live in washington, tara mergener, thank you. >>> it is 6:05. a trip to texas four years ago at the bottom of a big shake up at the port of oakland, the executive director there omar benjamin announced he's stepping down. this amid a scandal of paying for strippers with public money. james kwon, the two ran up a bill for more than 4500 dollars while retains shipping exec -- entertaining shipping executives. kwon is away on a business trip. >>> the founder of mcafee associates is now a person of interest in a murder case. john mcafee sold his remaining shares of the event virus software company in the 1990s. police in belize want to question him about the shooting death of a neighbor last weekend. this is not the first brush with the law for mcafee and the police. >> he has enormous resources at his disposal and that's allowed him to do whatever he wants. >> earlier this year they raided the 67-year-old's home and confiscated firearms. charges were dropped. wire magazine says mcafee called to declare his innocence in the murder case and says he h

cbs reporter tara mergener tells us, at the same time, a shooting incident on the gaza- israel border has not caused a break in that fragile cease- fire. >> reporter: palestinians matched marched through the streets to bury a man shot on friday. he died when israeli troops opened fire on the gaza border. the israeli military says about 300 palestinians tried to breach the security fence at different points. so far, the incident hasn't compromised the two-day old cease-fire between israel and hamas. it was a common seen on gaza and egypt where two crossings are opened again. they closed when the fighting broke out. now palestinians can once again travel to egypt. egypt's president earned high praise from the u.s. for leading cease-fire negotiations. but now he is facing a backlash from his own people for trying to expand his powers. [ non-english language ] >> reporter: the egyptian president's spokesman announced on television that the president and his parliament would be exempt from legal challenges until a new constitution is written. egyptians took to the streets in protest. polic

as tara mergener tells us, former cia director david petraeus has his say tomorrow. ra. >> reporter: well, dana, yes, congress is looking for answers about the september 11th attack in benghazi and tomorrow, david petraeus will give his account of the event and what followed. former cia director david petraeus will testify on capitol hill friday morning about the attacks on the u.s. consulate in benghazi, libya. the closed-door hearing will his first public appearance since resigning over an affair with his biographer. >> he went to tripoli and interviewed many of the people as i understand it that were involved. and so the opportunity to get his views i think are very important. it's very important. >> reporter: intelligence committee members were briefly thursday on the timeline of events in libya. they were shown realtime classified video from surveillance cameras at the consulate. >> are there still questions? you bet. we are going to continue to work to get the answers. >> reporter: those answers could clarify how information on the attacks was released to the am

cbs reporter tara mergener in washington where the resignation has shocked the intelligence community as well as top political leaders. tara. >> reporter: indeed. good evening, allen. yes, petraeus' resignation absolutely came as a shock here in washington ending the long career of a well respected and very high-profile public servant. cia director david petraeus submitted a letter of resignation to president obama admitting he had an extramarital affair. the president accepted his resignation. petraeus who has been married for 37 years says he showed, quote, extremely poor judgment when he had the affair. petraeus has been running the cia since september of 2011. before that, he was in charge of allied forces in afghanistan. and he also oversaw coalition forces in iraq. in a letter to cia employees, petraeus wrote, such behavior is unacceptable both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours. president obama called petraeus one of the outstanding general officers of his generation. the president met with petraeus thursday afternoon. the general offered his resigna

tara mergener for cbs news, washington. >>> a natural gas explosion destroyed two buildings in one ofnd's largest steams of the the blast sent bricks and glass flying through downtown springfield, massachusetts, about 90 miles west of boston. the blast was so loud, it was heard for miles around. >> i jumped. i could feel the garbage cans move next to me. i could hear the windows shaking. automatically -- i knew where it came from, from this part of the city. >> firefighters were investigating a gas leak about 40 minutes before the explosion. some of the injured include firefighters and utility workers, but authorities say there were no fatalities. >>> well, a party train from southern california to las vegas is on the fast track to becoming reality. the las vegas railway express and union pacific railroad have agreed to start working on tracks for what they call the x train. it would make the roundtrip from fullerton in orange county to downtown las vegas using trains equipped with big screen tvs, recliners and two of these, they are calling them ultra lounges. crews hoping to have th

cbs reporter tara mergener on the financial aid that the u.s.to both sides to help keep the peace. >>> reporter: the cease-fire allows palestinians to hold funerals in gaza city for those killed during eight days of israeli air strikes. with the truce between israel and hamas holding, calm is coming back to the streets. in tel aviv, commuters are once again boarding buses. wednesday, a bomb ripped through one injuring two dozen people. >> i just put faith in the palestinian people that they are also going to hold up their end of the cease-fire. >> reporter: under the cease- fire agreement, hamas promises to stop firing rockets. israel says it will end air strikes and will ease border restrictions that have crippled gaza's economy for years. egypt will work to enforce the cease-fire that it played a major role brokering. the egyptian president's help may prompt congress to release $450 million in emergency cash for the country that it froze back in september. the obama administration is also going to ask congress to increase funding for israel's

cbs reporter tara mergener on the political power lunch. >> reporter: mitt romney got out of an suv and walked into the white house alone. the former republican nominee then sat down with president obama for a private lunch. aides say the president wanted to hear the businessman's ideas on how to make government run smoother. >> somebody with governor romney's experience clearly would have insight into how to maximize efficiency in an operation like the federal government. >> reporter: the lunch is the first time they met since they battled it out on the campaign trail. >> the president doesn't have a plan. he is out of ideas. he is out of excuses. >> reporter: keeps changing up so much and backtracking and side-stepping... i think it's called romnesia. >> reporter: the lunch in the white house dining room appears to be a one-time affair. aides say president obama does not plan to offer governor romney a role in the obama administration. but people we talked to are hopeful the friendly meeting will inspire republicans and democrats to come together on capitol hill. >> think it's a logic

tara mergener for cbs news, the white house. >> the white house says the president will veto any bill that extends tax cuts for those making more than $250,000. >>> state and local governments are preparing for the fiscal cliff. virginia's governor directed all state agencies to identify 4% of their budget to cut out. that would affect northern virginia schools, of course, 14% of the fairfax county school budget coming from the state that. would be impacted. >> we're going to be concerned about any cut in funding given how tight our budget is. i think especially given the fact that we feel the state is underfunding us now. so to take anything from that would not be good. >> so in addition to the school budgets that would be affected we're talking about massive layoffs that would lead to vacant buildings and a reduction in commercial tax revenue, a large source of funding for local governments, more reasons than we need to avoid this fiscal cliff. >>> following mitt romney's sound defeat top republican officials take stock of what went wrong. members of the gop tell the washington post

the tiny town of dixville notch, new hampshire have been kounlted and as tara mergener tells us, this year the candidates made history. >>reporter: voters in dixville notch, new hampshire cast their ballots at midnight, and if their votes are any indication, tuesday could be a very long day. >> this has never happened before in dixville. we have a tie. five votes each. >>reporter: president obama and mitt romney buzzed tru battleground states monday on a final push for votes on the eve of election day. the president stopped -- the president's stops included opening acts from bruce springsteen and jay-z. he told supporters romney's campaign is a greatest hits collection of failed policies. >> the choice between going back to the top-down policies that caused the mess we've been fighting our way of for four years or moving forward to a future that's built on strong and growing plans. >>reporter: the president wrapped up his last political campaign in iowa, the state where he won his first presidential campaign victory in 2008. president obama will monitor the returns from his hometown o

. >> tara mergener in washington for us this morning. thank you. it's been two weeks since hurricane sandy but for tens of thousands of frustrated and beaten down victims the nightmare is not over yet. some are trying to rebuild from scratch. for others the issue is power. this morning in new york and new jersey some 73,000 customers remain without electricity the. that means no heat or no hot water. most are on long island. over the weekend there were protests against the long island power authority. mark strassman has our report. >> reporter: new york's veterans day parade was also a salute to the city's recovery from sandy at least in manhattan. but 14 miles away in brooklyn vietnam veteran danny smith walked to a gasoline to wait for an hour for national guardsmen to give him five free gallons. >> without this gas you would be in trouble? >> i couldn't charge my cell phone. it's your lifeline. >> you wouldn't have heat? >> no heat. >> reporter: in brooklyn's working class community, two weeks later no one here has power. >> tough. very tough. s

tara mergener for cbs news, washington. >> he told friends he had no romantic involvement with jill kelly and only saw her with her husband. >>> syrian activists say antigovernment groups have reach add preliminary deal to form a new opposition leadership. opposition factions have been meeting. the u.s. and other countries have been pressuring the group to present a united front. >>> president owe wam ma honored the nation -- obama honored the nation's veterans with a traditional wreath laying ceremony. he said it's intended to remember every service member who has ever worn our nation's uniform. he urged americans to welcome back u.s. troops who are now coming home. >> over the next few years, more than a million service members will transition back to civilian life. they'll take off their uniforms and take on a new and lasting role. they will be veterans. as they come home, it falls to us, their fellow citizens, to be there for them. >> the president also noted this is the first veterans day in a decade with no american troops officially fighting in iraq. >>> the vietnam veterans memori

tara mergener is in washington with more. what's the latest there? >> reporter: good morning to you. that's right. another twist in this drama. defense secretary leon panetta ordered a pentagon investigation on monday involving one of the u.s. military's biggest names. general john allen, the man who succeeded david petraeus as head of the international forces in afghanistan, is now linked to the fbi investigation involving his predecessor. >> i want to thank you all so much for being here this morning. >> reporter: secretary of defense leon panetta confirms department of defense is investigating allen, and a senior u.s. defense official says the inquiry centers around potentially inappropriate e-mails with jill kelly, the florida woman who sparked an investigation that led to petraeus's resignation as head of the cia. >> if you know my sister, like i said, she is a dedicated mother and a dedicated wife. >> reporter: kelly first went to the fbi when she received threatening e-mails from an anonymous source. those were allegedly linked to paula broadw

tara mergener for cbs news, washington. >> secretary panetta has already named general allen's replacement for afghanistan. the secretary would like the senate to confirm as quickly as possible. >>> closing arguments are set to begin today in the preliminary hearing for army staff sergeant robert bales accused of killing 16 afghanis during the night. several wounded children testified via a military link. after closing arguments, the military will decide whether to move forward with a court marshal. a conviction could lead to the death penalty. >>> new york governor andrew cuomo is expected to request $30 billion in federal aid to rebuild after super storm sandy. governor cuomo says the money will be used to repair infrastructure and pay for emergency costs related to the storm. the new york city council is going to vote on a plan today to use half a billion dollars to repair public schools and hospitals. 23 schools and two city-owned hospitals are still closed now two weeks after the storm. in boilers, new electrical systems, roof repairs are on the long list of repairs that need to be fi

at the white house, tara mergener cbs 5. >> mitt romney and his wife left their boston hotel this morning. their future is uncertain. romney spent the past six years running for president. what's next? the initial plan is to spend time with family. but his wife recently said he will not run again for president. there is april general consensus the 65-year-old politician was unlikely -- there is a general consensus the 65-year-old politic was unlikely to disappear from the public altogether. >>> voters endorsed proposition 30, governor brown's plan to hike sales and income taxes to raise $6 billion to balance the state budget. so what comes next? cbs 5 political insider phil matier spoke with the governor today. phil. >> reporter: that's right. this is a first step, but we didn't go off the cliff but it's still a rocky road here in sacramento and for california. >>> we're not going to see the $5.5 billion of cutbacks to k- 12. >>> reporter: educators however say there's still more to be done. >> it wasn't about piling a bunch of new money on schools saying we are going to make new investme

tara mergener, for cbs news, the white house. >>> now, 9 news spoke with representatives from both the obama and romney campaigns, and as you can expect, both believe they have done enough to win the minds of the undecided voters and win the important swing states to win the oval office. >> we feel like we've done a great effort in the leadup to election day, we think that we're in a very strong position today to win virginia and make governor romney president this evening. >> we had an incredit credible rally in northern virginia this weekend with 25,000 voters. there's no doubt that virginia is a belle wether state and a -- a bell wether state and a swing state. the president was losing 800,000 jobs jobs, in the middle of a foreclosure crisis, we've made so much progress. >> looking at the recent overall public polls, president obama has a slight edge of three percentage points. according to the president's campaign, the latest poll has him up by one percentage point. both of those are within the margin of error. this is going to be close. >>> and we have an update for you on the law

tara mergener has more from the white house. >> reporter: president obama is inviting congressional leaders from both parties to the white house to get to work on avoiding the so-called fiscal cliff. >> at a time when our economy is still recovering from the great recession our top priority has to be jobs and growth. >> reporter: economists say the country will be plunged into another recession if it goes over this cliff january 1st. that's when bush era tax cuts expire and drastic spending cuts kick in

tara americaner in is at the white house where the obama administration -- tara mergener is at the white house where the obama administration and the congress better reach an agreement soon. >> reporter: the same problems remain and essentially the same congressional makeup. president obama is headed back to washington after a bitter battle to win a second term. he used his victory speech to reach out to the other side. >> in the weeks ahead i also look forward to sitting down with governor romney to talk about where we can work together to move this country forward. >> reporter: mitt romney also called for compromise. >> in a time like this we can't risk partisan bickering and political posturing. our leaders have to reach across the aisle to do the people's work. >> reporter: voters put president obama back in the white house, but they also chose a divided congress recreating the same recipe for gridlock. democrats are hanging onto the senate where majority leader harry reid says he'll work with republicans but won't let them push him around. >> it's better to dance than to fight. it's