. Welcome to cbs this morning. Norah odonnell is on assignment. At bea ma is awarning people will lose their jobs and services will be slashed with budget cuts. We are nine days away from the deep automatic spending cuts. Bill plante is at the white house. Bill, good morning. Reporter good morning and good morning out west. Well, republican congressional leaders say that if the cuts happen theyll be the president s fault even though some of their members want the cuts. The president says that he doesnt want the cuts either. In the next few hours hell be talking to local tv reporters to as one official here put it continue to turn up the pressure on republicans to compromise. This is not an abstraction. People will lose their jobs. Reporter with just over a week until the cuts take effect the president s placing the blame for the sequester squarely at the doorstep of republicans in congress. Last thing our families can afford right now is pain imposed unnecessarily by partisan recklessness and ideological rigidity here in washington. Reporter officials tell cbs news the president will hit the road between now and the march 1st deadline to argue his case Campaign Style for averting budget cuts. He wants to close tax loopholes that mostly benefit the wealthy in order to get more revenue. If the sequester takes effect it will mean 1. 2 trillion in automatic across the board spending cuts, including 46 billion of the militarys budget for this year. Republicans continue to insist that if that happens, its the president s fault, not theirs. In response to mr. Obamas remarks tuesday, House Speaker john boehner said the president offered no credible plan that can Pass Congress only more calls for higher taxes. But within boehners own party, there is disagreement on whether the sequester is a danger or a silver lining. Not only should the sequester stand, many pundits say the sequesters far short, that we need 4 trillion in cuts. Reporter and as washington argues over whose fault the cuts will be if they happen, nearby local governments, home to federal workers and contractors, worry that massive layoffs would cripple their economies. We dont need to wait to see the white in their eyes to start responding because of the potential that we see. This challenge is real and real right now. With the deadline still nine days away theres a lot of posturing going on and no sign anyone is trying to make a deal. Officials tell us there are no secret negotiations under way. One reason for that the Obama Administration thinks it is winning this debate and public pressure will force the republicans to give in. Charlie, gayle . Bill plante thanks. Also in washington cbs news political director john dickerson. John, good morning. Good morning, charlie. Put this thing in context for us in terms of what we are talking about and what were not talking about. Well you know its a good point. Step back here. What were not talking about in this sequester is the actual longterm drivers of this deficit problem, and so as people look at this fight, which is the 900th chapter in the constant fights over the budget whats happening is a debate about dumb cuts to a portion of the budget and everybody agrees theyre dumb in terms of just being blunt, a portion of the budget that really isnt driving the longterm deficit problem and that longterm, those longterm costs are Health Care Costs so we have washington cant agree on these funds, they really cant agree on the harder fights of longterm Health Care Costs that are part of entitlements. What are the short term and longterm gains either party can get . Politically the white house thinks they have the upper hand polling shows they have better Approval Rating in congress. Thats the short term game but in the longterm picture economies tend to be talked about by the president ial terms and what the white house worries about is this economy which is struggling would really take a hit if the sequester took effect over a long period of time. That in historys eyes not only would the middle class be hurt but in historys eyes that makes the obama economy weaker and thats not a great legacy item for this president. John, with nine days and counting and no talks scheduled on either side do you think its inevitable that its going to happen . Its inevitable well get to march 1st. The question is whether a deal will be something will be cobbled together after that and weve talked about these budget fights as a game of chicken. Its really a game of uncle, which side is going to buckle to the pressure first. Who wins and loses in the blame game with each party blaming the other . Well i mean they both lose in terms of the country looking at them. The republicans seem to have lost, be losing more. Theyre trying to reorder the argument here and connect with peoples fundamental feeling about the size of government and especially with tax time coming, people paying the big tax bills and wondering what theyre getting for it. Thats the hope for republicans but so far the polling has shown the president with a stronger hand here. John dickerson thank you. Thanks, charlie. Now to kansas city missouri, where a natural gas explosion caused the inferno that devastated a downtown shopping district. Police are searching for possible bodies in the rubble. Affiliate kctv is at the scene in kansas city. Reporter the explosion rocked the upscale Kansas City Community just after 6 00 p. M. Local time on tuesday. The towering blaze engulfed an entire block and injured over a dozen people some severely. Just hours before the blast, many in the area had been complaining of a strong smell of gas. We finally called the gas company. They came out, they checked inside our building and said that we needed to evacuate. It wasnt two minutes when we were grabbing our stuff and the exmotion hit and explosion hit and it hit you like a shock wave. Reporter it may have been triggered by a contractor hitting an underground gas line during construction. After one of the most popular restaurants of the city j. J. s was destroyed by the flames kansas citys mayor is counting his blessings. I was there four or five times a week and at 5 30 on a tuesday night that place would often be packed so i was really praying that that wasnt the case, and i dont believe it was. I think we were lucky in that regard. Reporter j. J. s had been cleared out by authorities before the explosion, but late tuesday, search teams were still combing through the smoldering rubble. We have had cadaver dogs on the pile and they have not indicated that they have made any hits whatsoever. Reporter the fire officials just confirmed to us one of the missing persons has been found so the focus shifts to finding that second person and with more daylight they plan on bringing in cadaver dogs and heavy machinery to assist in that search. For cbs this morning, dave hall, kansas city. In south africa this morning, dramatic new testimony at a hearing for Oscar Pistorius. Hes a double amputee runner accused of murdering his girlfriend. Police say they found testosterone and needles in his bedroom. Emma hurd is at the courthouse in pretoria this morning. Emma, what is the latest . Is. Reporter another day of dramatic evidence. The rain pouring down outside the court, and inside the detective leading the investigation told how he was called to the pistorius home the early time valentines day morning, there he found Reeva Steenkamps body lying at the bottom of the stairs. He said she was wearing white shorts with a black tank top and said that her body was covered in towels. He said pistorius told him he thought there was a burglar. He said he didnt say much else at the time. In court the athlete sobbed as detectives described how she had suffered three Bullet Wounds to her body in three places on the right side one in the head one in the hip, another in the elbow on her arm which broke the bone. He said that he would have had to have fired through the bathroom door at such an angle that it was extremely difficult to do it. Now, Oscar Pistorius wept throughout much of this evidence as he heard the witnesses and heard the arguments as he heard a neighbor has heard shots being fired and then a female screaming before more shots were fired, and then the defense went in hard with their crossexamination, forcing the detectives to admit that one of the witnesses had been about a quarter of a mile away. There was discussion about this supposed discovery of testosterone. The defense claims it was a herbal remedy. The detectives admitted there were no wounds on steenkamps body and his family seemed relieved as this Court Hearing continues. Charlie and gayle, back to you. All right, emma hurd thank you. There is no relief in sight for drivers today. The average price of regular gas is now 3. 76 a gallon. Today is the 34th day in a row that gas has gone up. Manuel bojorquez is at a refinefully woodbridge, new jersey. Reporter good morning, gayle. Nationally gas prices have gone up nearly 46 cents during this current runup. Its all about supply. Hess is shutting down this refinery while other facilities have had production problems. Fires at two different chevron refineries in california are bad news for drivers on the west coast. While in the northeast, lingering effects of Superstorm Sandy continue to pinch gas supplies. 60 just to fill the tank up. Reporter many plants typically go down for routine maintenance during winter months when Colder Weather means fewer drivers on the road. Other refineries are switching over to produce summer gasoline a special blend that reduces pollution, but costs more. Id say well probably peak out as a country between 3. 80 and 4. 10. There will be some hot spots, the upper midwest, the great lakes has a potential to go well above 4 as does california. Reporter this is the time of year when gasoline prices typically start inching up. For example, over the last two years, gas has been almost 10 more expensive in the spring than in the fall. This year the increase has come earlier than ever. The investors and the speculators and get in and chase the prices higher. Its like moving up the oscars or the grammies . What can we do but pay, but pay. Pay. Pay. Reporter Gas Producers along the gulf have plenty of it but cant get it to where it needs to go fast enough. We dont have enough ships to move Refined Products from port to port so a place like the u. S. East coast is not getting gasoline necessarily as rapid of a pace from the gulf coast because the ships are too expensive to move it. Reporter one thing people can do to pay less at the pump is to drive more fuelefficient vehicles but so far, the high gas prices do not seem to be factors into consumers buying habits. In january the two top selling vehicles were pickup trucks. Gayle and charlie . Manuel thanks. Former illinois congressman Jesse Jackson jr. And his wife will be in court today in washington. Theyre expected to plead guilty to charges they spent more than 700,000 in Campaign Funds for personal use. Jay levine of our chicago station cbs2 is in washington. Jay, good morning, good to see you. Good morning. Court starts in 30 minutes and were expected plea agreements signed by jackson and his wife sandy, once one of chicagos political premiere couples. Now a troubled marriage with the former congressman wining and dining a washington restaurant hostess, but it also went to things like furs and jewelry, furniture and other personal items including tens of thousands of dollars worth of bruce lee, Martin Luther king jr. , Michael Jackson and other celebrity memorabilia. Even though his wife is labeled a coconspirator only the former congressman is charged with the actual conspiracy. Jackson, who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder considered and rejected an insanity defense before agreeing to the deal where it will be up to a federal judge to sentence him from anywhere from probation to five years in jail. Jackson had first tried to protect his wife and mother of their two Young Children but couldnt as she cosigned tax returns understating their income. In the end his resignation from congress and guilty plea may have led to much less serious tax fraud charges against her. Both apologized in statements issued last week and are hoping his mental disability and their strong records of Public Service will convince the judge that their fall from grace and perhaps token time in jail for him may be punishment enough. Charlie, gayle . Jay speaking of the judge, how much discretion does he have . Total discretion charlie. As you know he has the ability, responsibility to accept or reject that plea agreement and then after a presentence investigation hell decide which of the range of sentences from probation to five years in jail from him, from probation to about a year and a half in yale for her will be the actual sentence in the case. Jay levine thank you. General john adams will not be the next commander of u. S. And nato forces in europe. In a surprise move the former commander in afghanistan announced tuesday hes retiring to take care of his wife. He was cleared of any wrongdoing in the emails with a florida socialite. Last fall he talks with 60 minutes correspondent lara logan. I get the feeling sitting here talking to you, listening to you that this is not just a job. Its not about the next promotion. Youre carrying this campaign in your heart . Yes, i am. I came here believing this would be the last job id ever had. I dont care about anything beyond this. This is whats important to me. I almost cant remember ever having been anywhere else. This is completely consuming for me. And im dedicated 24 hours a day to these magnificent troops to the afghans, to this cause, and ultimately to the successful completion. This is very personal to me and i take it very personally. In a statement, he says retiring because of his wifes health is the only choice i could make. Time to show you some of the mornings headlines, the Washington Post, the Supreme Court will argue on how much a person can donate to campaigns and Political Action committees. It is the First Finance case to go before the court since the stroefrsial stroefrs controversial decision Citizens United rug in 2010. A 22yearold College Student went on a shooting spree in california. He carjacked a truck, shot and killed three people and wounded more. It ended when the gunman committed suicide. The motive is not known. The New York Times says deaths from drug overdoses continue to climb for the 11th year in a row, rose 4 from 2010 prescription drugs were involved in more than half of all overdoses. The New York Post says documentary maker ken burns scored a legal victory. New york city wanted to have him hand over over unreleased films but a judge ruled the material is protected by reporters privilege. Some Mac Computers used by apple employees were infected with Malicious Software its the latest sign apple is becoming increasingly vulnerable to hackers. A winter storm warning for the mountain areas in california. Yesterday north of los angeles a 60mile stretch of highway 58 had to be shut down. There were also crashes and stranded cars on mountain roads in northern california. Rough going in minnesota, high winds caused near whiteout conditions. An suv was going too fast and rolled over. The driver wasnt hurt but he did get a ticket. I guess he didnt get the driving lesson you have to adjust your driving to the weather conditions. Indeed. You know that. Otherwise all right. We are catching a break from the Stormy Weather but look what its left behind. A little more snow on the mountaintops there, if you want to check that out before that all begins to fade away a little later on today. Mount diablo looking nice and white. Looks like as we head throughout the day these cold temperatures are going to warm up nicely but back down to the 20s in some of the north bay valleys right now. 30s and 40s elsewhere an patchy frost at the coast. This afternoon 50s and 60s with mostly sunny skies. Next couple of days just a couple of passing clouds should stay dry. A this National Weather report sponsored by the u. S. Postal service. Schedule your free package pickup today. A state trooper is cited a deadly crash but the case is crossed out in a twominute Court Hearing filled with laughter. Do you agree with the dismissal . Why not. Im eager to please. This morning, details of the case that has some people furious. How did eight men drive into an airport in behm jum and drive out with 50 million in diamonds . Was it an inside job . Plus government gridlock reaches outer space. How our inability to get anything done in washington can interfere with our announcer this portion of cbs this morning sponsored by usaa serving the financial needs of current military members and their families. ] fort benning, georgia, in 1999. 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