Captioning sponsored by cbs this is the cbs evening news with scott pelley. Pelley good evening. It was not a close call for us today. The most amazing story that we saw, hands down, involves a courageous young u. S. Army sergeant severely wounded in iraq and the amazing surgery that gave him arms two real human arms. The operation on 26yearold Sergeant Brendan marrocco of new york was performed in december but today, we got our first look at the results. David martin has the story. Reporter when Brendan Marrocco moved his arms today, he made medical history. I feel like im getting a Second Chance to start over after i got hurt. Reporter he was gesturing with transplanted arms not prosthetic arms, but real arms from an anonymous donor who had died. It feels amazing. Its something that i was waiting for for a long time, and now that it finally happened i. I really dont know what to say because its just such a big thing for my life and its. Its just fantastic. Reporter amazing and fantastic because Brendan Marrocco was the first quadruple amputee from americas wars to survive just barely, as he told us when we first met him nearly three years ago. I died three times, came back. Reporter died three times . Flat pulse . Yeah. Flat out dead. Reporter his vehicle had been hit in iraq in 2009 by an iranianmade roadside bomb which severed his carotid artery and tore off all four of his limbs. Which is harder, the lack of arms or the lack of legs . Lack of arms, by far. Reporter by far . Without legs, you can still be independent, you know . Without arms, theres so much more that you cant do. Reporter a team of 16 surgeons, led by dr. Andrew lee at Johns HopkinsUniversity Hospital in baltimore, performed the 13hour surgery last month. Before that, there had been only six successful doublehand transplants, and never anything like this. We knew arm transplants can help people, but we didnt know whether we could transplant so high up in the arm. Reporter marrocco will have to go through years of physical therapy, which meant the decision to do the transplant was as much psychological as medical. With the determination and stamina that brendan has demonstrated, we had no doubt this was the right thing to do for him. Reporter his doctors predicted marrocco will eventually be using his hands for just about everything. You know, i never really accepted the fact that i didnt have arms, so now that i have them again, its. Its almost like it never happened. Its like i went back four years reporter Brendan Marrocco was discharged from the hospital today. No one will be watching his recovery more closely than four other servicemen who have since joined him as survivors of quadruple amputations. Pelley amazing, david. Thank you very much. Weve been talking in the newsroom all day about how this is possible so, of course, we turned to dr. Jon lapook. Jon, you think of all the connections that have to be made how did they do it . Scott, the idea was to match up and connect the tissues in brandons body with the tissues in these transplanted arms. First they connected the bones using screws and plates, then they connected the muscles and tendons and finally the blood vessels, the arteries and veins that are so important for the nourishment of those newly transplanted arms. Whats so fascinating is that the way that the nerve supply is to be reestablishd is that over the next month and year and two years these nerves are going to grow down from brendans own body at a rate of about one inch every month so its not going to be for a year or two that well know how much function he will ultimately regain. Pelley the nerves nowhere to go. As david just reported, these arms came from a deceased person, somebody elses arms. What about rejection . Well, theyre trying something relatively new. Its only been used in these hand transplants five other times and thats going to allow them to lower the number of antirejection drugs. These drugs have a lot of side effects. Is down from three to one. What they did was took bone marrow cells from the donor spine and gave them back to brendan and these cells hopefully are going to trick brendans immune system into thinking that these transplanted arms, these foreign bodies, are actually part of brendans normal body and hopefully he wont reject them. Pelley jon thanks very much. Today, the president laid out what could be the most sweeping reform of Immigration Law in decades. It would include a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million Illegal Immigrants who are already in america. Heres how president obama described his plan in las vegas today. A process that includes passing a background check, paying taxes, paying a penalty, learning english, and then going to the back of the line behind all the folks who are trying to come here legally. Thats only fair. cheers and applause all right . So that means it wont be a quick process, but it will be a fair process and it will lift these individuals out of the shadows and give them a chance to earn their way to a green card and, eventually, to citizenship. Pelley but first, mr. Obama said there would have to be stronger enforcement on the borders. His plan is similar to a bill that both democrats and republicans are introducing in the senate. This may be the best chance for Immigration Reform in decades. It could mean that a lot of families would not live in fear of being split up, as Bill Whitaker found with the colin family in california. Reporter jamie colin helps his mother lupe at one of the familys two dry cleaners in southern california. Do you feel like an american Success Story . I do. My parents have worked so hard and everything i am, everything my sister is, we owe to them. Reporter the colin familys immigration status is complicated. Jamie and his sister diana were brought from mexico as children. President obamas Deferred Action Program allows them to stay for work and school. Their younger siblings were born in the u. S. , but their parents have been here illegally for 22 years. Their father declined to appear on camera. Lupe says they have earned a path to citizenship. I have my own business. Im living here like an american citizen because i pay taxes. Were aspiring citizens thats what it is. So i. Obama promised us an Immigration Reform. Reporter so, what would these changes mean to your family . Well, i think wed feel more secure, we dont have to live with the fear of being deported, having our family torn apart. Thats a calculation that they made when they came into the country illegally. Reporter jack martin is with the federation for american Immigration Reform, a group that lobbies for strict immigration enforcement. Theyve been in the country breaking the law all that period of time, and that should earn them no priority with regard to people whove been waiting outside the country. Reporter martin says allowing the colins to stay in the u. S. Will be no more effective at stopping illegal immigration than a 1986 law that allowed three million Illegal Immigrants to apply for legal resident status. We now have 11 million or 12 million illegal aliens in the country. Instead of cutting down on illegal immigration, it led to an increase. Reporter there are folks whonr will say that your family and families like yours should get to the back of the line. Weve been here, like i said, as aspiring citizens for 22 years. Is that the back of the line . What is the back of the line . Reporter the colin family believes the political muscle hispanics showed at the polls in november will push democrats and republicans to pass Immigration Reform with a path to citizenship this year. Scott . Pelley Bill Whitaker in our los angeles newsroom. Bill, thanks very much. Tonight, the British Oil Company b. P. Is guilty of criminal charges of manslaughter in the deaths of 11 workers from the deepwater horizon drilling rig. A federal judge in new orleans accepted b. P. s guilty plea today. The disaster in the gulf of mexico in 2010 unleashed the largest Accidental Oil spill ever. B. P. Agreed to pay 4. 5 billion, which includes the biggest criminal fine in u. S. History. Mark strassmann is in new orleans. Reporter b. P. s guilty plea concedes b. P. Managers ignored test readings that indicated combustible gas had seeped into the well on the evening of april 20, 2010. Hours later, the deepwater horizon rig exploded. The company also admitted to lying about how much oil was leaking. They said at first, a few thousand Barrels Per Day leaked from the well, when b. P. s own engineers knew it was more than 60,000 barrels a day. Shelley andersons husband jason, a 35yearold rig supervisor, was killed in the explosion. She was given five minutes in court to speak for herself their daughter lacy now seven and son river, now four. When i told my son river that i had to be here and i had to go and do this for daddy, he got very excited. His face lit up i want to go see daddy, too. I want to go see my daddy. And i had to explain to him that i was coming here to do something for daddy, but that daddy wasnt going to actually be here and that we would never, ever see him again. Reporter this plea deal puts the criminal case behind b. P. As a company, but b. P. Still could face paying as much as 23 billion in government fines for violating the clean water act. Mark strassmann, cbs news, new orleans. Pelley in washington senator john kerry will be sworn in later this week as the 68th secretary of state, succeeding hillary clinton. Kerry was confirmed today by his senate colleagues, 943. Kerry, who is 69, is the son of a diplomat, a decorated veteran of the vietnam war. He made an unsuccessful run for president , as you recall, a democratic nominee in 2004. Kerry has represented massachusetts in the senate for 28 years and chairs the Foreign Relations committee. One of the first challenges that kerry will face is syrias civil war. Today, there was another mass killing in the ancient city of aleppo. At least 50 young men were apparently executed. Its not clear who killed them or why. This war pits various rebel groups against the 40year dictatorship of the assad family. And Clarissa Ward is following the story for us tonight. Reporter they were dumped in a canal, their hands tied behind their backs. Most of the men appear to have been shot at close range. Most looked to be in their 20s and 30s. For months, rebels have fought the syrian army to a stalemate in aleppo, syrias largest city. On monday, we sat down with u. S. Ambassador to syria robert ford. He was an early backer of the Syrian Opposition, but in 2011 was forced to leave the country after an armed mob of assad regime supporters attacked his car. He told us that the u. S. Is still committed to bringing assad down. Oh, the u. S. Has done a lot were playing a leading role in many ways. For example, we have substantially tightened the financial squeeze on the regime. And at the same time, were providing vital humanitarian assistance. Reporter humanitarian assistance doesnt stop bombs. Well, its important, though, for syrians to stay alive. Reporter so, are we willing to wait another two years and another 60,000 dead . I dont know how long it will take. We obviously deeply regret the violence. Reporter but ford was adamant that the u. S. Has no intention of intervening directly in syria. Americans can try to help on the margins but, ultimately, we have to let these societies find their own ways forward. The americans cant fix this problem; syrians have to fix this problem. Pelley the Syrian Opposition has been meeting in paris this week, where we find Clarissa Ward. And clarissa, what has ambassador ford been trying to accomplish with the Syrian Opposition there . Essentially, ambassador ford has been trying to rally International Support for the Syrian Opposition. But one fundamental issue remains, which is that many of these Syrian Opposition leaders who have been traveling the world and attending these types of meetings simply dont have any real credibility with rebels on the ground who are inside syria actually fighting this war. Pelley the rebels are splintered into a number of group there in syria in a war thats almost two years on now. Thank you very much. Well look at what new orleans is doing about crime on the eve of the super bowl. And the day the ocean turned into a giant bubble bath when the cbs Evening News Co continues. Nce the feeling of a dry mouth . It can be the side effect of many medications. Dry mouth can be frustrating. And ignoring it can lead to. Sipping water can help but dentists recommend biotene. Biotene moisturizes and helps supplement some of salivas enzymes providing soothing relief when you need it most. Dont ignore dry mouth. Look for biotene in your oral care section today. This has been medifacts for biotene. My wife takes centrum silver. Ive been on the fence about it. Then i read an article about a study that looked at the Long Term Health benefits of taking multivitamins. They used centrum silver for the study. So i guess my wife was right. [ male announcer ] centrum. Always your most complete. [ male announcer ] how do you make americas Favorite Recipes . Just begin with americas favorite soups. 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If you cant afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. The machine showed me a map of my feet and it gave me my custom number. My arches needed more support until i got my number at the free dr. Scholls foot mapping center. Im a believer and you will be too learn where to find your number at drscholls. Com. Pelley the police in new orleans are calling in reinforcements as thousands pour into the city for the super bowl this weekend. We asked jim axelrod to have a look at this. Reporter this was one month ago today, the most frightening moment of tim nguyens life. Does it scare you to watch this now . Yes. I couldnt bear to watch it at all. Reporter nguyen had owned this Small Grocery in new orleans for 20 years. Hed never been robbed before. Police say anthony fields hopped the counter with a handgun and told nguyen to get down on the floor. And you grab his gun . Yeah, i tried grabbing his gun. Reporter had you ever been in a fight before . No, sir, never been. Reporter so this is just pure instinct . Th right. Just survival mode right here. Reporter nguyen says he struggled for 15 minutes and was pistol whipped eight times before the assailant grabbed 500 and ran. Still, new Orleans Police superintendant Ronald Serpas says crime stats out thursday shows new orleans is turning a corner on crime. We preliminarily estimate that, in 2012, there were less murders, less rapes, less armed robberies, less auto burglaries, less residential burglaries, less business burglaries, less auto thefts. Reporter but the murder rate here is more than ten times the national average. During super bowl week, serpasco is quadrupling the number of officers patrolling french quarter. Hes getting help from neighboring departments so Police Presence in high crime neighborhoods does not diminish. Were working on this issue very hard of young men killing each other. But when you get down here in the french quarter, usually the most danger youre going to suffer is a hangover from a hurricane or hand grenade. Reporter those are cocktails, not threats. But tim nguyen, whose store is not in the french quarter, has had enough. Did this robbery make you rethink about owning and running a business here in this neighborhood . Yes, sir. It really. I told my wife we need to sell the business and get out of here real quick. Reporter anthony fields was arrested a week later. He was on probation for a number of armed robberies and, scott, the chief says, given his record, if fields is convicted he expects him to be put away for 99 years. Pelley jim, thanks veryn3 another big name in sports is accused of using performance enhancing drugs. Thats next. You know my heart burns for you. Im up next, but now im singing the heartburn blues. Hold on, prilosec isnt for fast relief. Cue up alkaseltzer. It stops heartburn fast. 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