0 >> updates throughout the afternoon into this evening into night. information is power captioning sponsored by cbs >> o'donnell: tonight we're following several breaking news stories including the state of emergency just declared this california as a dangerous storm forces mass evacuations. plus we've got the latest on the drcaolt ri hn he gop fails to pick a speaker. widespread flooding forces residents to leave homes. drivers stranded with more rain on the way. republican chaos. vote after vote after vote. and kevin mccarthy defeated again. so what happens now? plus president biden weighs in. >> i just think it say little embarrassing it is taking so long. >> o'donnell: signs of improvement, new information tonight on the condition of buffalo bills 24 year old safety. new video tonight. >> of the first time the quadruple murder suspect was pulled over after allegedly stabbing four college students just one month earlier. tonight he is on his way to idaho to face multiple charges. >> a cbs news investigation. is american technology being used in russian drones killing civilians in ukraine? >> and unicorn, dreams and the power of imagination. this is the "cbs evening news" with norah o'donnell, reporting from the nation's capital. >> o'donnell: good evening, thank you for joining us on this wednesday night. well, tonight republicans are deadlocked, in disarray in the house of representatives over the battle for a new speaker. and make no mistake, what we are witnessing is historic. some republican lawmakers tonight accusing far right members of their own party of holding the people's business hostage as they voted over and over to reject leader kevin mccarthy for speaker of the house. plus there is new information and new video tonight of the suspect in the brutal killings idaho students but we want to bin with that major storm known as a an atmospheric river, dropping across de of california from los angeles to the oregon border. sand bags are in short supply across northern california where mother nature could drop more than ten inches of rain in some areas. the governor today declaring a state of emergency and drivers are warned to stay off the road as flood waters could quickly turn into a life-threatening situation. cbs's jonathan vigliotti will start us off from sacramento county, good evening. >> good evening, norah tonight already wind gusts reaching 30 miles per hour. they could more than double when the worst of the storm hits later on tonight. it will last more than 24 hours. rain will be the biggest threat. and with roadways already flooded like this, meteorologists were warning it will be brutal and could be deadly. >> california has already endured a pounding and it's about to get even worse. in sacramento county there say race to repair breached levies. >> at this point what is the risk if that water comes up real high again with a ton of flow. >> throughout northern california, roads are flooding. water rising so fast, this 81-- 81 year old woman had to be rescued and the prospect of more power outages, $3,000 pgne work ares fixing what they can as fast as they can. today state officials issued a dire warning. >> this may be one of the most challenging and impactful series of storms to touch down in california in the last five years. >> the jet stream now stretches across the pacific all the way to ind neesh yavment the amount of water fun elling straight into california, up to 15 times the flow at the mouth of the mississippi river. the problem, the grund is already so saturated that any rain can cause immediate flooding. in san francisco already battered by record rainfall, the demand for sand bags is so high the city has exhausted its supply. >> we just ran out. >> still digging out with time running out. there is good news, more snow in california's sierra nevada than in the past decade. the snow pack vital to the state's water supply impacted by years of drought is now 174 percent of average. but below the mountain a muddy mess. and tonight crews are really working gengs the clock to repair what they say are five breaks to the levee system, they do not believe they'll be able to fix them before the storm arrives. and with the roads already inundated like this, it will likely only get worse. >> o'donnell: jonathan vigliotti, thank you so much for your reporting. and for more on where this severe weather shedded next let's bring in chris warren from our partners at the weather channel, good evening, chris. >> good evening, norah. the big storm system that we are watching move op shore right now is one in a series of systems that will bring very heavy rain, flooding rain, possibly landslide, mud slides, rock slides and some very strong wind. the amount of rain, this is significant, from southern california to northern california and southern oregon could be up to a foot of rainfall that is going to cause some serious issues. you can see one system comes through late week and then going into the weekend, another system is op the way. but with the system that we are watching right now, the winds are going to be strong offshore and on shore. could be a strong as 80 miles an hour. >> o'donnell: chris, thank you so much. back here in washington it say political storm in the house of representatives. the republican revolt continued for a second straight day as leader kevin mccarthy fails for the sixth time to be elected speaker of the house and become second in line to the presidency. cbs's nicole kill onis on capitol hill with the historic reject. >> in three straight votes, a speaker has not been elected. a speaker has not been elected. >> a speaker has not been elected. >> a speaker stalemate op the house floor with gop leader kevin mccarthy still unable to secure the gaffe el. >> how are you going to-- gavel. >> how will you get plor votes. >> the group of nearly two dozen lawmakers who oppose mccarthy hanging strong, repeatedly nominating florida congressman byron donalds as an all terp tiff. >> what is it that you want? >> well, i think one of the key things is that we have a lot of republicans that have worked hard to come here on capitol hill. so what we don't want to see a repeat of is the same old washington. >> in a bid to boost mccarthy chances former president time and vice president mike pence took to social media in support of the republican. >> the republican-- president needs to tell kevin mccarthy you don't have 9 votes and it is time to withdraw. >> even some of mccarthy's supporters seem to agree. >> he doesn't get the necessary support, this kptd go on forever and he needs to look at stepping aside. >> one name that has emerged as a possible backup candidate mccarthy's deputy steve scalise of louisiana, though it is unclear if he could garper enough support. >> sure, it looks messy. but democracy is messy. >> in the meantime house business remains at a stand still, a stark contrast to this rare bipartisan event today in kentucky where senate minority leader mitch mcconnell and president biden. >> we have a congress who can't function strks embarrassing. we are the greatest nation in the world. how can that be. >> nikole killion joins us from capitol hill where all the action. is hi there. what are the implications of all of this app what is the way out. >> tonight mccarthy met with some of his detractor. he already made a number of concessions so it is unclear what more he can give. but the implications are real. several republicans on the intel geps committee say they can't get briefings on national security matters while newly elected members aren't able able to offer services to their constituents,. >> o'donnell: that is note worthy, nikole killion, thank you so much. well, tonight in cincinnati there are signs of hope for buffalo bills safety damar hamlin. his uncle says the 24 year old's condition is moving in the right direction as doctor vsz been able to lower the amount of oxygen is he receiving from his ventilator. charlie de mar sous the hospital. >> damar hamlin remains in critical condition but his team, the buffalo bills says his condition is improving. his uncle says the bills safety was receiving 100% oxygen from a ventilator but that has now been cut in half. >> it is up with day at a time. we'll feel better once is he out of the icu. >> around the nfl the pain is still fresh. at a briefing today league executive troy vincent fought back tears. >> my greatest fear had flashed in front of me but for the goodness and grace of god, damar is still here and still fighting. >> today president biden was asked about the danger of professional football. >> it is dangerous. we have to acknowledge it. >> i pray for his family. >> around the country support for hamlin continues to grow. buffalo bills blue lit up niagara falls and a gofund ddz me hamlin started for his charity before the injury is now approaching $7 million. it was back to work for nfl teams. the bills walked through practice was closed to the media. bengals head coach zack taylor spoke for many in football when he talked about the road ahead. >> we have to move, focus towards that nut at the same time he you don't have to move past the situation happening now. >> chris pronger understands better than most what hamlin and his family are going through. the hockey hall of fame defenseman's heart stopped after he was hit in the chest with a puck during a mayoff game. >> you feel for them and hope they are doing well. in this tough time. >> president biden called hamlin's family today. they reportedly spoke at length. as for the nfl they spoke for the first time about monday's postponed game and while no decisions have been made, we are told that all options are being explored, norah. >> o'donnell: all right, thank you so much. well, in idaho the man accused of killing four college students will soon face a judge after being extradited from pennsylvania. and there is also new body cam video of 28 year old bryan kohberger being pulled over in indiana last month during his cross country trip to his parent's home for the holiday. it was the first of two police stops in just nine minutes. there is cbs's danya bacchus. >> tonight bryan kohberger is on his way to idaho to face four first degree murder charges for the stabbing deaths of kaylee calfs, madison mogen, xana kernodle, e9 an chapin, he was seen just hours ago after the plane he was traveling on made a brief stop in illinois to refuel. the murder suspect set to arrive a little more than 24 hours after waiving his extradition rights at a pennsylvania court room. the public defender for that hearing jason labar describes him as calm and intelligent. >> sean ordinary man to me. i see no distinct characteristics. he is easy to talk to he is aware of the situation. >> the washington state university ph.d criminology student could appear before an idaho judge within the next 48 hours. once he does, a probable cause affidavit which details the evidence against him could be released to the public. dave leroy sigh former idaho attorney general, he has no-- with this case. >> this is an unusual case but what we are importantly trying to do here now in idaho is preserve the defendant's right to a fair trial with an impartial jury. >> kohberger was arrested in pennsylvania last friday after authorities used the easy pass in his car to track the trip he3 took with his father to their family home. >> he is coming from w-s-u. >> newly released bodycam foot footage shows indiana lawmakers pulling him over during one of two traffic stops during that trip. >> the judge who will be hearing the case placed a gag order on any person involved with the case. it is unclear when kohberger will appear in court and if that document will be mailed public. >> o'donnell: danya bacchus, thank you so much. well, in 48 hours we'll have more on the case in the idaho student murders this saturday at 10 p.m., 9 p.m. central. the masterd th cndal was sentenced today to three and a half years in prison. rick singer was paid millions of dollars to hire people to take exams for student, bribe coaches and embellish collegees 2018 ngr secretly helped to build the case against dozens of coaches aren't parchts including actress felicity huff mrn and lori locklynn. let's turn now to war in ukraine. a white house national security official said today the u.s. is looking too sanctions to tar get the production of iranian drones russia is using to attack civilians in ukraine. it may surprise you that some of those drones include computer parts made right here in the u.s. and european nations. cbs's chris livesay has our investigation from inside ukraine. >> they menace ukraine skies killing hundreds and scalding millions, while the drones are russian and iranian, e technology is european and american. the ukrainian government showed us photos of components by u.s. companies maxim and microchip retrieved from russian and russian-modified iranian drones. >> so what are we looking at. >paflo kashck sws t chipa basic. nside, logo reads u blocs, a swiss company. >> so without this chip. >> the plane doesn't know where to fly. >> the same kind of chips are found inside smartphones, tablets, cars, potentially anything used with satellite navigation. >> but in ukraine, russia is using them to tap into glossas, moscow's answer to gps. ukrainian lawmaker are yaroslav yump shin says six six companies produce it. >> microchampionship technology, chandler, arizona, that is my hometown. >> to be clear, civilians are being killed. >> and what we can do, we can stop. >> to sell the chips. >> none of its american companies agreed to an interview or would answer whether they do business in russia. u blocs, the maker of the-- u-blox said they cut ties with the russian company from the start of the war but cbs has seen recent custom forms that show components from the u.s. and europe are still making it into russia through distributers in third party countries. >> the microchips are go indirectly to russia through china, through malaysia and other third countries. >> are you saying that countries like china are laundering this technology for russia? >> of course, yeah. >> the companies argue it is intended for civilians. but that doesn't stop russia from using it to kill. >> it if those companies were in this room, what would you tell them? >> i i want to ask if they really want to see their logo here, that is the creation. >> chris livesay, cbs news, kyiv. >> o'donnell: tonight abortion rights advocates are praising a new fda rule that for the first time allows retail pharmacies like cvs and walgreen's to provide abortion pills. patients will still need a health-care provider's prescription but the medication can now be picked up as drug stores instead of a clinic or doctor's office. it would expand abortion access in most states except in the nearly 20 states that have banned or limited access to the pills after the supreme courtsus -- roe versus wade. a terrifying car crash that initially a preer-- appeared to have a miraculous sending-- earning has now lead to criminal charges. wait until you hear the details next.