Atlanta under fire after the citys crippled by the storm. Disappointment was in the leadership of our state. It was chaotic. The mayor admits the response could have been better. The georgia governor faulted forecasters. We cant control mother nature. Nine people are dead in a fire in southwestern kentucky. Eight of them are children. Making a big announcement and sending stocks falling, the dow down 5 so far this year. Justin bieber turned himself in on an assault charge. He had to push through a crowd of reporters and screaming fans. Everyones like here to see the biebs. Staten island congressman Michael Grimm now apologizing for the threats he made to a new york 1 reporter. I overreacted, and i lost my cool. Sometime this morning an Italian Court will release its verdict in the latest murder trial for america defendant amanda knox. The cruise ship explorer of the seas docked after nearly 700 passengers got sick. Son scores big time with a big surprise for his mom. What . What are you talking about . Those are super bowl tickets. No. Yeah. No, theyre not. And all that matters. The snow took drivers in floridas panhandle by surprise but one good samaritan, who is not exactly dressed for the weather, came to the rescue. They dont know how to drive. Bottom dollar. On cbs this morning. Pop star Justin Bieber called a presentfrenzy when he surrendered to authorities. He has become a menace to society. I liked him better when he was just a menace to music, now this mornings eyeopener presented by toyota. Lets go places. Welcome to cbs this morning. Good morning, norah. Good morning to you charlie. We begin again with the weather, the Winter Weather nightmare easing in atlanta. But the cleanup along highways could last for days. The frozen gridlock lasted more than 24 hours. Officials say the thousands of people left stranded in cars, stores, and schools all finally made it home. But there is a lot of fingerpointing this morning over the response to tuesdays snow and ice storm. Mark straussman is in atlanta where schools, government offices, and many businesses will be closed again today. Reporter good morning, charlie and norah. Good morning to all of our viewers in the west. All over atlanta along roads and highways, this is what you see. Cars that have been abandoned during the storm. The goal today is to get the drivers back into their cars and get the cars on the road, to try to get this city moving again. The other goal is to get the black ice off the road. Hundreds of cars still line the highways in atlanta. Most of them marked with yellow tape, a sign theyve been abandoned. As late as wednesday, drivers were still stuck in miles of frozen gridlock. Good samaritans like jessica and chris hartsog handed out food and water. A lot of people have been able to get what they need but those that havent have been very grateful. Reporter National Guard troops fanned out. A military truck delivered critical supplies to this medical center. We went to their Distribution Center because it was iced in. There was no way for their delivery vehicle to get in or out. Reporter in Fulton County, students told us how they spent tuesday night at school, more than 2,000 of them. They fed us dinner, then breakfast, and then lunch today. Reporter High School Sophomore natalia, one the last to leave, was reunited with her dad on wednesday. Disappointment in the leadership of our state. We should have been able to shut the schools downment we had no emergency evacuation plan. It was chaotic. The superintendent, he needs to pay for this. He needs to answer. Everybody knew this weather was coming. Reporter Atlanta Mayor kasim reed defended the citys actions but admitted they could have been better prepared. We made a mistake by not staggering when people should leave. If we had it to do it again, we would have said schools, you go out, you go first, privatesector businesses you go second, and government goes last. Reporter georgia governor nathan deal also apologized but said the storm hit atlanta faster and harder than anyone could have imagined. Mother nature has a mind of its own. I dont think anyone could have totally predicted that this was going to have the magnitude within the short window of time in which it occurred. Reporter emergency crews will be using fourwheel drive vehicles to get owners to their abandoned cars and get the cars back on the road. The goal here, of course is to put gas in the cars of people that have run out of gas, and at that point, get this city moving again. Mark straussman thanks. And the trouble is the same in much of alabama. Drivers abandoned thousands of vehicles on icy roadways around birmingham. Officials say some children stranded in schools spent a second night away from home. The temperatures are expected to reach the 40s today. Large stretch of interstate 10 remains closed this morning due to icy conditions. Tuesdays storm is now blamed for at least 12 deaths in the south. Amid that tragedy, a story of triumph. A baby girl born in the middle of atlantas traffic disaster. Youll meet the happy family and the Police Officer who helped in a moment of crisis. Thats ahead. This morning, the government says Consumer Spending hit its best rate in three years. The economy grew by 3. 2 in the last quarter of 2013. Stocks are up after opening at their lowest point of the year. Markets fell on weak earnings and the feds decision to cut its economic stimulus. The fed meeting was the last for chairman ben bernanke. Ian Etjanet Yellen takes over tomorrow. Anthony, lets start with the market. Whats going on . I think its processing a number of things. First of all as you mentioned, the pulling back of the stimulus from the fed. Second of all, a slowdown in china which is weighing on things here. Really, the market was up 26 last year, charlie. I mean at some point, everybodys been saying there needs to be a pullback. We may finally be getting it. Despite the uncertainty, especially in january, why is the fed pulling back . Because underneath all of this, the fundamentals of the economy are getting stronger and i think you hit on something ive been hearing from Business Leaders now for quite a while. Everybody thinks this year is going to be better. Now, the cautionary note of course, theyve been saying that for the last couple of years. The question is whether the Business Leaders have the certainty, feeling about the economy absolutely. And they lynn vest in new jobs. Exactly. Thats the question. What about the whats the effect of the feds decision on china . Well china, i mean part of whats going on here is with the fed pulling back the expectation is that Interest Rates are going to go up and that investment money is going to move back to the states and that will hit emerging markets, okay . But really, i think whats going on with the market is just a readjustment and recalculation in terms of with the fed pulling back, whats that going to mean for the economy . Is the u. S. Economy going to get weakened . Will janet yellen be different in any way than ben bernanke . I think in some time she will. I think in the near term it will be business as usual. The two have been not necessarily in lockstep but pretty much been in agreement about the way things should go. If anything, yellen may be more cautious than bernanke. I remember when it was first announced that janet yellen would get this job, that you said shes going to be the most i think shes the most powerful woman in american history, until we have a female president. All right. Anthony mason, thank you. And in the world. Yes. Thanks. Hundreds of people sickened on a Royal Caribbean cruise are home this morning. The ship returned to new jersey wednesday, two days early. And we have the firsthand accounts from passengers. Elaine, good morning. Reporter good morning, charlie and norah. The ship left last week for what was supposed to be a tenday cruise through the caribbean. Instead, the trip was cut short after nearly 700 passengers and crew members got sick. Eight days after it set sail, Royal Caribbeans explorer of the sea returned to new jersey. Passenger lynn cavato said by day three, he and his friend were two of those that fell ill. We were confined to our cabin for almost two days. Reporter what was that like . It was bad, intestinal stomach pain, you know, vomiting, nausea. It was bad. Reporter passengers chris roman and Britney Schneider saw signs of sickness throughout the ship and crews working to clean um. They were overwhelmed. The medical was backed up. Room service was backed up because people were quarantined to their rooms. The staff, which was wonderful, the staff was great the whole entire time, they were stretched thin. Reporter they say by the third day, the normally bustling ship with more than 4,200 passengers and crew had turned eerily quiet. Activity got cancelled. And we all you could do was just walk around and talk to empooh. It was a ghostship. No one was around. Reporter the cdc is working with Royal Caribbean to determine what caused the outbreak, but they suspect the noro virus, which spreads easily from infected people through contaminated food or water or touching contaminated surfaces although a Company Official called the event rare, passenger passengers on another Royal Caribbean ship were sickened two weeks ago. The company is now offering partial refunds. And this was really unfortunate. So we gave our guests half of their money back for this cruise, and we also gave them 50 off toward a future cruise so that they will come back with us. Reporter but some passengers say thats not good enough. For people like ourselves who are not really cruisers we probably wont go on one again. To get 50 off when youve taken time off from work and went to high expense, it doesnt really compensate you. Reporter cdc officials are on the board the ship continuing their investigation into the outbreak. Officials are also evaluating the disinfection process. According to Royal Caribbeans website, the ship is scheduled to leave for another cruise tomorrow. Charlie, norah . Elaine, thank you. This morning, were learning of a devastating house fire in western kentucky. Officials say eight children and one adult died in that fire in greenville, kentucky a town of 4,000. The flames reported in the middle of the night. Greenville is about 130 miles southwest of louisville. Two other People Living in the home were taken by helicopter to a nashville hospital. Republicans respond today to president obama on immigration. House Speaker John Boehner will show a new plan to fellow republicans today in maryland. Its a piecemeal approach that focuses on stronger border security, but it includes a path to legal status for 11 Million People who entered the u. S. Illegally. Republican congressman Mario Diazbalart of florida tells nancy cordes, the time is right. What has always eluded us is that magic formula, policywise, that gets us the majority of the republicans and a very large substantial number of democrats, which would allow us then to not only move forward in the house but pass it in the house. Other republicans say they will not approve any plan leading to citizenship for immigrants who broke the law. Russian Authorities Say this morning theyve arrested two people connected to a pair of deadly bombings that raised tensions for the winter olympics. The suspects are described as members after muslim militant group. Last months attacks killed 34 people in the city off volgograd. The director of National Intelligence says its time for Edward Snowden to return hundreds of thousands of stolen secret documents. James clapper told a Senate Hearing yesterday that snowdens leaks are causing profound damage. The nation is less safe and its people less secure. Terrorists and other adversaries of this country are going to school on u. S. Intelligence sources methods and tradecraft and the insights that they are gaining are making our job much, much harder. Homeland security bob orr has covered the story since it broke. What are they telling us in terms of your sources and clapper testifying there about the damage done specifically, and how they are forced to adjust to that damage. This is devastating. They say this case goes far beyond any of the famous spy cases we know, aldridge james, robert hansen. What snowden has done with the leaks through the press is hes put the intel playbook out there for everyone to see. So when your adversaries and your opponents and the terror groups, well, how does the u. S. Do this, what are the tripwires, when they have all of that information, what do they do . They adjust. That forces us to adjust. So well eventually get all of this back with new capability. But right now, this is a security lag and thats dangerous. What do you think the point was of our nations intelligence chief, general clapper, calling on snowden to return these documents and accusing, also and saying his accomplices, which was really a vague reference to the press. Right, it wasnt all that vague, norah. I think it looked desperate, to be honest with you. The government is frustrated. They cant do anything. Short of convincing russia to grab the guy and help us hes beyond the reach of the u. S. Government. So now theyre reduced to basically begging him to come back and go through some kind of trial. Hes charged with three felonies. Eric holder the attorney general, says hes not going to make a deal. No clemency, no amnesty. So hes not coming back were not getting the doms back. Also news out of this hearing on syria and how concerned we are about our own national security, because of whats going on in syria, right . Its a huge problem. Thats the emerging battlefront is al qaeda. We know about the al qaeda, afghanistan, pakistan region. We know about the strong affiliate in yemen. Whats happening in syria is you have two al qaeda factions, largely from iraq that are carving out now some safe haven space. Theyre setting up Operations Training camps, and theyre attracting westerner recruits. Its very very dangerous. And theyre going there and back to iraq. Right. And maybe back to the united states. There are westerners there and some folks from the u. S. That have gone to fight there. All right. Thank you. The u. S. Is raising concerns this morning that russia may have violated a 1987 missile treaty that helped end the cold war. The agreement was signed by president reagan and soviet leader mikhail gorbachev. The New York Times reports american officials believe russia began testing mediumrange missiles in 2008 and the u. S. Informed nato of the alleged breach this month. Russian president Vladimir Putin is holding out on helping ukraine this morning. Hes waiting until the country form as new government before ocher billions in bailout money. For two months protesters have demanded ukraine president step down. Holly williams is in kiev where demonstrators are being offered amnesty in return for their cooperation. Holly, good morning. Reporter good morning, charlie and norah. Ukraines parliament voted to free arrested protesters if they leave the government buildings theyve occupied in the next 15 days. The protesters say they will not do that. And in the midst of this dangerous crisis ukraines president has gone on sick leave, which could make it even more difficult to resolve. Ukraines demonstrators are hunkered down and ready to defend themselves. Theyre sticking to their demands for the president s resignation and fresh elections, but now the government set a deadline for them to leave, many here fear the standoff could end violently. A member of parliament and a protest leader what will you do if the government sends the riot police back on the square . They did it a number of times. If the president decides to make another crackdown, or enforce the marshal law in case of emergency, this will be a disaster for my country. Reporter the demonstrators have stayed out in the bitter cold because they believe their countrys future hangs in the balance. These protests began peacefully back in november but ukraines government turned down a treaty with europe in favor of Financial Aid from russia. But after surviving decades of oppressive soviet rule many ukrainians fear moscows influence and hope closer ties with europe will bring greater freedom and democracy. Former World Champion boxer is one of the protest leaders and told us a modern ukraine needs to be part of the west. Why do you want to be close to europe and move away from russia . Weve want to move away from russia. We talk about maybe european reporter the protests and the governments response could decide whether ukraine turns east or west. Ukraines former president warned yesterday that this country could be on the brink of a civil war. Charlie and norah if. Holly, thanks. Time to show you some of the mornings headlines. The Minneapolis Startribune shows how an intruder stole credentials to access targets computers. Thieves took credit card information from up to 110 million customers. Usa today says researchers found a way to create stem cells from regular cells in mice that could be the key in treating a number of diseases including alzheimers. The new Research Means scientists could create stem cells without embryos. Google is selling the profitable motorola division. The Seattle Times says an Italian Court is debating the fate of amanda knox. Knox wasnt in court. Shes in seattle waiting for the verdict. The american student was convicted of killing her roommate in 2007 but the verdict was overturned four years later. And the Huntsville Times sa