>> 75 million people in 19 states may be affected by damaging winds, heavy rain hail. >> 17 twisters have touched down since yesterday. >> it kind of was getting closer. >> wildfires continue to grow in colorado. >> suspend your whole life. you know. and then it's gone. >> edward snowden says he will remain in hong kong and fight any effort to extradite him to the u.s. >> snowden is accused in the u.s. of hacking the chinese. >> all governments hack awe other governments. that's what spy agencyies do they spy. >> newly revealed secrets were critical in foiling terror threats. >> it's dozens of terrorist events that these have helped prevent. >> sarah is recovering after a successful double lung transplant. her family fought a legal battle to get her on an adult waiting list. >> we would not have been able to get on the list -- >> their scaffolding snapped 45 stories above a manhattan street. >> a test of a flying bicycle they've been working on. we've been waiting for this. >> triple overtime -- >> my great friends from boston i am not going to talk trash about the hockey game. >> 1987. it's been 20 years. >> and all that matters. >> a 13-year-old boy suffering from a rare blood disease fired a pitch 1800 miles last night with the help of motion sensor technology. >> i thank everybody who was a part of it. >> the classic george orwell book 1984 skyrocketed. the fallout of the scandal is worse than we thought. it's making americans read. welcome. nora donald is off. good morning. >> good to be here. >> we begin with the weather. a line of severe stormses could mean trouble for millions of people in the northeast. forecasters say the storms could trigger tornadoes, heavy rains and large hail. the system is already blamed for tornados in iowa. strong winds ripped through homes and businesses yesterday. >> heavy rains from that same front caused flash flooding south of cleveland. take a look at this. pummeled illinois last night. meteorologist david bernard. the question to you, what can we expect as this storm heads up east? >> we have a severe thunderstorm watch in effect for the i-95 corridor. look at the lines of storms. that is beginning to move into philadelphia, d.c. later on this morning and perhaps areas of virginia after that. yesterday, we had those tornado reports in parts of wisconsin. watch how they moved with that strong line of storms. it's been bad but it hasn't been as bad as anticipated. we're expecting more severe weather today. so the highest risk area is going to be the mid-atlantic region. maybe as far north as philadelphia and southern new jersey. but that severe weather threat is going to extend all the way into the deep south this afternoon. we could have severe storms in mississippi, alabama and also georgia. gayle and charlie. >> thank you david. the danger from the wildfires. there are at least five major fires burning in that state. and thousands more people in the colorado springs area have been told to evacuate. kelly werthmann is at the scene. >> reporter: despite the massive destruction of homes here we have heard no word of any fatality fatalities. this fire has scorch 8,000 ache erbs and sacres and this morning is still zero percent contained. as the black forest fire burned through its second day northeast of colorado springs, more and more expenseive homes were destroyed. no match for the winds and high temperatures sweeping across the state. >> we are monitoring the situation very closely. it is still very dangerous. and as our guys are going in to check hope smes, they're actually having to abandon roads because of how rapid it is changing. i don't want peepople to underestimate it. >> we know it's a danger. if you see fire you bail. >> reporter: the attack is mostly from the air. dropping water on the flames with fixed wing aircraft laying down retardant to slow the fire's approach. officials say this fire seems to have a mind of its own. >> we've had areas that we thought were pretty well burned out and the fire has backed over those areas again and started burning through with the unburned fuel. so it's still quite volatile. we are throwing everything at this. >> this baby deer was handed off to a volunteer. high temperatures and strong winds have fueled this fire. those bad conditions are expected to continue through the week. >> we're hearing from edward snowden again this morning. he says he leaked details of secret surveillance american programs. now he is making new claim also that the national security agency is hacking computers in asia. snowden says he wants to remain in hong kong as long as he is welcome. >> reporter: good morning, charlie. snowden says he fears for his safety and for his family's safety. but he continues to make sweeping allegations about the inner workings of the u.s. intelligence apparatus. edward snowden claims that for years the nsa has tapped into computers in hong kong and mainland china. targeting everyone from public officials to students. his explosive and still unsubstantiated claim appeared in a new interview with the south china morning post. snowden told the paper, we hack network backbones like huge internet routers basically that give us access to the communications of hundreds of thousands of computers. so far authorities in beijing have not commented. but following u.s. allegations of chinese government hackers targeting america, the front page of "the china daily" called snowden's retch lations a test of ties between the u.s. and china. and features an editorial cartoon suggesting no one is safe from american surveillance. >> this is the sort of rhetoric he was hoping to avoid in hong kong. >> shame on u.s. government! >> a small group of protesters marched, shouting we support edward snowden. while snowden continues to hide out in hong kong he says i april not here to hide from justice. i'm here to reveal criminality. he's vowing to fight any attempt by the u.s. to extradite him and says he's put his faith in hong kong's legal system. lawyer simon young helped lead an earlier fight to standardize hong kong's asylum process. why would snowden pick hong kong of all places to come? >> we have a relationship with the mainland whereby our autonomy's protected by constitution. we have an independent judiciary. most interestingly, we have a fairly robust system asylum law. >> reporter: he adds i'm neither traitor nor hero. i'm an american. legal experts tell us snowden has to be very careful about what type of information he divulges while he's here in hong kong so as to be cashful not to break local laws. support appears to be growing with a protest planned for saturday. the nsa's director tells the senate intelligence committee that secret surveillance stopped dozens of plots. putting national security in jeopardy. >> there's no doubt in my mind we will lose capabilities as a result of this and that not only the united states but those allies we have helped will no longer be as safe. >> alexander also said that snowden's security clearance gave him access to important parts of the nsa network. >> a senate committee has taken a step toward cracking down on sexual assaults on the military. the pentagon admits it has failed to address the problem for decades. nancy cordes is on capitol hill. >> reporter: this plan is aed at making military commanders more accountable. if they ignore cases of sexual assault, their higher-ups will get involved. but there arep senators who argue that commanders are at the heart of this problem and need to be removed from the equation. the plan approved in committee wednesday was crafted by armed services chairman and democrat carl levin. his amendment would make it a crime to secret tripek retribution against any military member who reports being sexually assaulted. only about a tenth were ever reported. >> women who are brutally raped and assaulted in the military they just don't believe there's a potsssibility of justice. >> reporter: gillibrand proposed an even more aggressive plan taking the handling of sexual assault cases out of commander's hands altogether and turning those cases over to experienced senior military lawyers. do you think that chairman levin's plan will achieve what your proposal would have? >> i don't but i think there's some really good measures in there. >> reporter: senators debated the merits of both approaches. texas republican ted cruz found himself siding with gillibrand. >> the lack of reporting is driven by a fear of not having a partial third party outside the chain of command. >> reporter: florida democrat bill nelson argued bypassing the chain of command could have unintended consequences. >> my conclusion is if you can't get the command system to work, then the whole thing crumbles. >> reporter: military officials had argued strongly against cutting commanders out of the process. >> i don't personally believe that you can eliminate the command structure in the military from this process because it is the culture, it is the institution. >> reporter: this plan is part of a larger defense bill that will go to the senate floor. so there are still some hurdles ahead in the house of representatives. they are debating this issue today as well. thanks to female senators everyone is now aware of the urgency. >> nancy cordes thanks. secretary of state john kerry says he welcomes an investigation into the alleged cover-up of misconduct. the state department inspector general plans to review those charges that were revealed by cbs news earlier this week. >> i'm a former prosecutor. i can tell you as a former prosecutor, i take very seriously an investigative process. i'm confident the process where he has invited outsiders to and review whatever took place a year ago will be reviewed. >> meanmeanwhile, a second house committee is asking for answers. so the question comes, what's the impact on the president and the presidency? >> well i think at the small end, the impact is this is a distraction. we're talking about the latest scandal. and we're not talking about whatever the white house wants us to be talking about. at the worst, it becomes a scandal of a week related to the administration. if that idea sets in that there's a kind of rot, and we haven't seen that yet, but that affects the president's legacy. i think in a practical manner when you talk to staffers inside the white house and reporting i've done on the hill they're focused on implementing the affordable care act. they're trying to get something done on immigration. the president's aids are talking to senators about trying to work out some kind of deal on the budget. so they're trying to stay focused on the things that really matter to this presidency. and only trying to spend a small amount of time putting out these little fires. >> they can do more than one thing at a time. should they be more aggressive in defending, in responding? >> the white house chief of staff has this 90/10 rule i keep being told about. spend 90% of the time on the things that are important. 10% on the scandals. that's wise for any white house. the problem is if they miss the one scandal that's important, and i think the one they're most worried about is still these irs allegations. that's what people in the public really seem to care the most about. it can affect other things the white house is trying to do. to the extent it increases total distrust in the government.aggressive? i think on that one in particular. >> does the scandal affect hillary clinton since she was secretary of state at the time? >> that is the most interesting political part of this state department scandal. is this tarnishing clinton's image as secretary of state? they obviously see her as the next nominee in 2016. so there's a real political motivation. even if people don't seem to care about that s or the benghazi investigation in the public, they see a political target here in hillary clinton. >> speaking of hillary clinton, the former president bill clinton has said in a closed meeting, reported by politico that the president should be more aggressive in syria. in supporting the rebels. >> hillary clinton as secretary of state it was reported was pushing the president to be more aggressive too. former president clinton seemed to be making a more general point about presidents and when they should engage. saying, you know presidents can be driven by public opinion. i think this white house would push back and say well, you know, this president took action in libya. so he's not scared of public opinion. he's just being wise about the differences here. think they'd also point to rwanda which is an area where president clinton didn't intervene because of the logistical problems there. so it's a little more complicated i think they would argue. >> john, thank you so much. a boston jury's hearing testimony this morning in the case of mob boss whitey bulger. his murder trial began yesterday with opening statements from both sides. elaine quijano is outside the federal courthouse in boston. elaine, good morning. >> good morning, charlie and gayle. court is is getting under way this hour just one day after james whitey bulger's defense attorney acknowledged his client is a criminal but not a killer. prosecutors, though, painted a different picture. they said starting in the 1970s james whitey bulger was at the center of murder and may hem here in boston. james whitey bulger is accused of drug trafficking, extortion and murder. prosecutors said bulger was the fearsome head of boston's notorious winter hill gang. a hands on killer unafraid to do the dirty work himself. he rose to power, federal prosecutor brian kelly said in large part because he was an fbi informant under the protection of corruption fbi agents. it was a position prosecutors allege, that gave bulger carte blanche. >> history is going to show he's one of the most significant crime figures in the last century in pepelling story. it's a horrifying story. >> reporter: bulger made millions according to the story, by shaking down drug dealers, even legitimate businessmen, requiring them to pay him a cut for the right to operate on his turf. admitting he did commit crimes but denying bulger was an informant. saying the worst thing an irish person could consider doing was becoming an informant. instead, carney argued bulger paid off law enforcement officers in exchange for information on investigations that could have jeopardized bulger's criminal operations. carney also tried to cash out on murder accusations by attacking the credibility of scheduled government witnesses. three of his former partners in crime are set to testify against him and bulger himself is expected to take the stand in his own defense. >> time to show you some of this morning's headlines from around the globe. "the new york times" says for the first time a woman will get the number two spot at the cia. averil haynes will replace him as the deputy director. >> "the wall street journal" looks at why dads don't take maternity leave. 16% of u.s. companies provide some paid leave. according to the society for human resource managementgement new dads are reluctant to take any time off. new research finds men who were active caregivers get teased and insulted at work. >> "the wall street journal" says crude oil production in the united states crew last year by more than 1 million barrels a day. it is the largest in american history. most of the all right. we are looking at a great day ahead. a lot of sunshine in most spots, patchy fog at the coast, looking good toward mount diablo right now. we have some calm conditions there. looks like for today, sunny skies will be the rule and even out toward the coastline this afternoon will become mostly sunny. looks like we're going to see blue skies over the city of san francisco. the temperatures running mainly in the 40s and 50s now. but by the afternoon, we could see some low 80s inland. 60s and 70s around the bay. >> announcer: this national weather report sponsored by citi simplicity card. go to citi.com/simplicity to apply. a 10-year-old girl and her family win a fight for survival. we'll see how she's doing after a life-saving transplant of adult lungs. but does this ruling to allow the surgery set a bad precedent? plus fighting over a legendary beach. >> reporter: this is one of the best surf spots on the california coast but it's also an important training area for the military. the tussle over what's known as the trestles coming up on "cbs this morning." >> the news is back here in the morning on "cbs this morning." stay tuned for your local news. >> announcer: this portion of "cbs this morning" sponsored by safelite autoglass. ♪ even superheroes need superheroes, and some superheroes need complete and balanced meals with 23 vitamins and minerals. purina dog chow. help keep him strong. dog chow strong. the secret is out. hydration is in. 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