And on sunday night, were going to experience both of those great emotions. Who has it better than us . Nobody nobody on cbs this morning. Nearly three in ten americans say god plays a role in the outcome of sporting events. Of course god cares about football. He created a girlfriend for manti teo out of nothing. Captioning funded by cbs welcome to cbs this morning. Were in super bowl park at Jackson Square new orleans, our broadcast home for the next three days and we are thrilled to be in new orleans. Its a beautiful set and we have lots of news ahead in this broadcast. And a great game coming up on sunday. Great game. We begin in alabama where a hostage drama has been going on for more than 36 hours. A man took a child captive after shooting and killing a School Bus Driver and manuel bo or jorques is in midland, alabama. Reporter so far authorities are tightlipped theyve not released the name of the suspect or the child who is believed to be unharmed but is still a hostage. Police cars blocked the dirt road leading to the site of an armed standoff now entering its third day. The suspect allegedly forced his way onto a school bus tuesday and confronted the driver. There were more than 20 children on board. The bus driver refused a request to turn over a child, any child. He started telling him he needed a kid because something about the law coming after him, and then he shot the bus driver. Reporter the bus driver died. The gunman grabbed a 5yearold boy and dragged him away. Police say the child is being held in a bunker resembling a tornado shelter. Negotiators have been able to get food and medicine to the child, who has special needs. People who live along this road say the suspect is a retired truck driver with a reputation. They say he allegedly has beaten a dog to death and threatened to shoot kids who trespass on his property. He was reportedly due in court this week on a weapons charge. Very antisocial, very antigovernment, hates everybody. Reporter ronda wilbur was one of several neighbors forced to evacuate the area. Shes hoping for the childs safe release and something else. My granddaughter who just turned 7, when i have her visiting me this next weekend i dont have to worry about mean man. One way another hell either be locked up or hell be dead. Reporter police have not said what demands, if any, the suspect has made. Charlie and norah . Manuel bojorquez, thanks. Everyone stopped to listen to one prominent victim yesterday of gun violence. Nancy cordes is on capitol hill where a Senate Committee called its first hearing on new gun laws. Nancy good morning. Reporter good morning to you, norah. No question former congresswoman Gabby Giffords was a star witness. Her husband who is with her says she partially blind now and has lost her gift for speech but she still managed to deliver her most extensive remarks since the shooting two years ago. Still struggling to walk and talk after a gunshot wound to the head former congresswoman Gabby Giffords had the room riveted as she urged congress to address gun violence. Too many children are dying. Too many children. We must do something. Reporter on the other side the ceo of the National Rifle association, Wayne Lapierre who argued new gun laws are unnecessary. They dont hit the elites they dont hit the criminal they hit the average, hardworking tax paying american. Reporter most republicans on the committee agreed. I have a hard time telling my constituents in texas that congress is looking at passing a whole raft of new laws when the laws we currently have on the books are so woefully unenforced. Reporter the hearing touched on many of the measures congress is considering including strengthening background checks for gun buyers limiting highcapacity magazines and banning assault weapons. The last will be a tough sell even for some democrats like Judiciary Committee chairman patrick leahy. Americans have the right to selfdefense to have guns in their homes to protect their families. No one can take away those rights or their guns. Reporter as the hearing was going on senators learned of a shooting in giffords home state of arizona. One dead two wounded in phoenix, and illinois senator dick durbin told the story of another victim. 16yearold hidayah who marched in the inauguration parade last week. Just a couple of days after the happiest day of her life shes gone. Reporter one thing this hearing revealed is there are some areas of bipartisan agreement particularly around the idea of expanding background checks to apply to sales made at gun shows. Vice President Biden will be here on the hill in a couple of hours meeting with Senate Democrats and guns will probably be at the top of the agenda. Charlie, norah, back to you. Nancy cordes, thanks. The Pacific Northwest is waking up to rain and snow but in the south, a massive storm has killed two people and the system is causing trouble in the northeast, knocking out power to tens of thousands in new york city, this morning heavy runoff from rain is rushing down city streets. Six tornadoes crushed homes and businesses, one man died when a tree fell on the shed where he took cover. The most destructive twister killed another man in adairsville, georgia, where we find terrell brown. Good morning. Reporter charlie, norah, good morning to you. This is whats left of a store here in adairsville, much of the debris is from one of the sides of the building. That is the roof and mangled in this debris is hundreds of power lines, hundreds of yards as residents return today to see if they have anything left. Thats a tshd buddy. Reporter Late Wednesday morning the tornado touched down in adairsville, 60 miles north of atlanta. It ripped homes to shreds. I was so scared. It just picked me up and fling me three times. One man died when a tree fell on his home. There was no warning from the sirens, no wag. Reporter Juanita Carter dove into the bathtub to take cover as her house collapsed around her. I was glad my kids werent in home, they were in school. Reporter they estimated the cloud as a quarter mile wide and touched down and stayed on the ground for a full two miles. This [ bleep ] on get back in here. Reporter overturned and tossed about vehicles and heavy tractor trailers were no match for the high winds, as many as 100 vehicles were flipped. That threw your truck about 250 feet there . Evidently. Wrapped it all in the power lines and i guess slammed it down. Reporter a state of emergency has been declared in the county that were in this morning, as well as another county a little to the north. More than 6,500 power customers across the state of georgia are still in the dark this morning. Charlie, norah . Terrell brown, thanks. A prominent u. S. Senator is fighting for his reputation. New jerseys bob menendez is being forced to deny allegations of accepting free plane rides and engaging with prostitutes. This as the fbi scrutinizes one of his friends who has made big donations to his campaign. Jan crawford is in washington. Jan, good morning. Good morning norah and charlie. These allegations really surfaced first back in november before the election and from the beginning, menendez has denied them. On the one hand they have the earmarks of an orchestrated Smear Campaign but the question is are they true . The raid on the office of Menendez Menendez menendezs friend who seems to be the center of all of this could be the signal the fbi is applying pressure to see whether the allegations have any merit. Federal agents on wednesday hauled away boxes of documents from the office of a south florida eye doctor a prominent democratic donor with ties to new jersey senator bob menendez. The fbi is refusing to say publicly why its investigating dr. Salomon melgen. Melgen currentcally has an outstanding irs lien of 11. 1 million for back taxes but its his relationship with menendez that has become a focus. Last month the daily caller accused menendez of accepting prostitutes at melgens mansion in the Dominican Republic and using his private jet for transportation. At the time a spokesman for menendez said he was not going to respond to a completely false acquisition and he easily won a second term. This week assuming a more prominent role in the Senate ForeignRelations Committee he was more forceful. In a statement the new jersey democrat called melgen a friend and Political Support for many years and acknowledged he traveled on melgens plane three occasions, all of which have been paid for and reported appropriately but his denial of wrongdoing was cat garr kohl any allegations of engaging with prostitutes are manufactured by a politically motivated right wing blog and are false. Harry reid echoed the sentiment. Anyone has to look at the source where this comes from. While menendez says he paid for the flights on the private jet he did so only recently, his Office Confirmed he reimbursed melgen more than 58,000 for two flights after complaints were made to the ethics committee. Norah and charlie . January crawford thanks. President obamas nominee for defense secretary is on capitol hill right now facing his critics on the Senate Armed Services committee. Former republican senator chuck hagel is the only witness at this mornings confirmation hearing. Earlier we spoke to bob woodward associate editor of the Washington Post asking him if the hagel nomination is in good shape at this time. It looks like it is and you know weve got some questions to answer but whats interesting in the reports weve done on it is that there is a likemindedness between obama and hagel about where the military should go when it should be used a sense of scaling back at the same time theres a hawkish side to it that you have to be ready to use the military but i think the mind meld between the president and hagel is the key factor here, and as you know the defense secretary is in effect the Deputy Commander in chief. You look back we would not have had vietnam without secretary of defense mcnamara almost certainly we would not have had or in the way we had the iraq war without defense secretary rumsfeld, so this is a big deal. And bob, you write about that, that obama has found a soul mate on the issue of war. So with hagel as defense secretary, even though he served certainly during vietnam, a republican, what does it mean for american engagement in the world in the next four years . That its going to be done in a much more careful way. Clearly in my research on the first book i did on obama and talking with the president about the war in afghanistan he like hagel has an aversion to war. Hell go to war but in obamas famous nobel prize acceptance speech he made it very clear that war may be necessary but its always a manifestation of human folly. And the secretary of state, john kerry, has said they need to get their economic house in order as a First Priority for national security. Look at syria and look at iran. Where does the secretary of defense nominee and the president stand on iran . Well the policy is to prevent iran from getting the bomb that is the most difficult policy to execute. Its not a matter of containment. Its a matter of stopping it whether thats going to be effective, were going to see, but as you both know the world is really dangerous now. There are a lot of powder kegs and hot spots and whether they can calibrate a policy that will send the message to potential enemies or adversaries that will use the military if necessary, but at the same time not be in the hair trigger mode which some other president s and secretaries of defense have been. Thank you, bob. Thank you bob. Syrias ambassador to lebanon says syria has an option to retaliate after an attack deep inside the country. Clarissa, good morning to you. Good morning norah and charlie. There are few details as to exactly what happened yesterday. The Syrian Government has said that that israeli air strike hit a military Research Base about seven miles northwest of damascus. Israeli officials are not saying anything, but a pentagon official tells cbs news the intended target or the target was believed to be a convoy that was carrying heavy weapons out of syria into lebanon to go to hezbollah, the shiite militant group. Now, obviously syria shares a border with israel. It has very serious concerns about the security situation inside syria, particularly because syria has a significant stock of chemical weapons. At this stage no one is expecting the syrians to launch a retaliatory attack but certainly this raises very real concerns about the possibility that syrias civil war is spilling across its borders. Thank you clarissa ward. Time to show you mornings headlines from around the globe. The New York Times says it was an emotional affair parents of victims of the Sandy Hook School shooting were among those testifying, many in the room called for stricter gun control. The tennesseean says Prostate Cancer treatments can feel worse than the disease. Research by Vanderbilt University found men experienced widespread complications after undergoing surgery or radiation therapy. The study notes not all Prostate Cancer requires aggressive treatment. Usa today says the fda is cracking down down on fake flu products. The products claim to treat, prevent or shorten the length of the flu. The fda has already warned one company which claims its nasal spray reduces cold bacteria and flu viruses. The london times reports a biggest british territory is used to avoid taxes. The cup Truck Charity raised 278 million from 2010 to 2011 and only paid out 87 million to worthy and our weather is going to be great here. A lot of sunshine, the sun just coming up, our mount vaca cam looking good. And were going to see plenty of sunshine all day long around the bay area and these temperatures running well above the average by the afternoon. Still, chilly in spots, freezing right now in santa rosa, 32. 40 in san jose. And 48 in San Francisco. This afternoon, though, were basking in sunshine. Temperatures moving well into the 60s. The next couple of days should be gorgeous even into the weekend with just a few more clouds. Cooler and unsettled toward the middle of next week. Announcer this National Weather report sponsored by Green Mountain coffee. Brew a better day. The Super Bowl Party is long overdue. This morning well talk about the big game and the news from washington, with two people who know both of those cities well James Carville and mary matalin. And a new study says making small changes in your diet wont help you lose weight. Even sex doesnt help they say. Well ask the leader of that study what dieters should be doing on cbs this morning. Portion of cbs this morning sponsored by Capella University. Bright students are getting lost in the shuffle. And administrations work gets more complex every year. When you look at these issues, do you see problems or opportunities . 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[ female announcer ] born from the sweet monk fruit, something this delicious could only come from nature. New nectresse. The 100 natural nocalorie sweetener made from the goodness of fruit. New nectresse. Sweetness naturally. The zoo in california announced that its monkey has randomly picked the 49ers to win the super bowl. And not surprisingly its deer picked ray lewis and the ravens. The deer likes ray lewis. Well, they have been known as the odd couple of american politics. Mary matalin and her husband, democrat James Carville are here with us, in the hometown of new orleans. A great place. Well talk about their city and the big game and the political gamesmanship in washington on cbs thi