Im scared. Im scared. Communities in the foothills near los angeles bracing for mud slides. After 8 00 p. M. We cant come back up. All that waters causing dangerous conditions on the roads. Meanwhile, a blast of bittercold air menacing the midwest. Real dangerous. You cant drive up the streets, you cant walk up the streets. Russian men have taken control of an air force in crimea. The ousted president in exile ousted against the opposition government. Are you scared of russia . Yes. An underground explosion rocked the streets of columbus ohio, early this morning. There are no reports of any injuries. Workers at a Nuclear Waste dump in new mexico are undergoing tests after radiation leaked. We will take care of them and make sure that they are taken care of. Veterans groups angry about a battle over their benefits on capitol hill. Republicans in the senate say the democratic bill was too expensive. Dont mess with the girl scouts and their cookies. It was a tough lesson for one alleged thief. Awesome. All that president obama and Vice President biden recorded a video to support the first ladys lets move campaign. Same time next week . Did you see that . Uhoh, weve got a fight going on. New mexico state. Oh, geez. D. K. Eldridge. Lebron after the broken nose wearing a protective mask. I want to get one of those masks on the set. And all that matters cbs this morning anchor charlie rose is the north carolinian of the year. It is the people that know you best that you want to honor you the most. On cbs this morning. Twothirds of americans havent seen any of the films nominated for best picture, but not from lack of interest. Its just most americans can no longer fit into the Movie Theater seats. This mornings eye opener is presented by toyota. Lets go places. Welcome to cbs this morning charlie rose and gayle king are off, so Anthony Mason and i are holding down the fort yes, we are. Nice to be here. Congratulations to charlie. Yes. Well have more on that later in the show. Were going to begin with the weather, because as you wake up in the west you are likely among 100 million americans facing a Severe Weather threat this weekend. And the strong storm is taking aim at california this morning. More heavy rain is raising the risk of flooding. A 12mile stretch of Pacific Coast highway near malibu is closed because of potential rock and mud slides. Ben tracy is in glendora, east of l. A. , where hundreds of people are already under threat. Ben, good morning. Reporter anthony and norah, good morning. It is a wet morning here in glendora, california. This is one of those neighborhoods thats under mandatory evacuation. Theyve put up concrete barriers, hoping that any water and mud that comes off the hillsides back here will rush down the street and stay away from the homes. Theyve also given out 30,000 sandbags, preparing for up to 6 inches of rain. The wet weather began moving into Southern California overnight, threatening to unleash the heaviest rain the region has seen in three years. Its the second time in days the areas getting hit. Slick roads made for dangerous driving conditions wednesday night, but this latest storm is expected to pack more of a punch, dumping up to an inch of rain per hour. After 8 00 p. M. We cant come back up. Reporter thursday officials evacuated 1,000 homes in glendora and asurza amid fears of flooding and mud slides. Both are nestled in hillsides scorched in a recent wildfire. Reporter all this area will become massive debris and dirt flows. Youve got a recently burned hillside here with limited vegetation and a very steep slope. Its a recipe for what the experts say is potential for a great deal of damage. Reporter crews installed concrete barriers hoping to minimize some of that damage. The goal funneling water and mud down the street and away from homes. Homeowners also worked to build their own last line of defense. This homeowner put up some plastic on his hillside hoping to prevent some slides. We are as prepared as we can be. I hope its good enough. Reporter even before the rain started falling, many people packed up and heeded warnings. Still, some are staying put, at least for now. It looks like the rains really building up and theres water flowing. Well probably decide to go but for right now, were staying and assessing how the storms going to do. Reporter you know when we have wildfires here there are people who will stay behind and try to protect their homes, but the police say when it comes to floods and mud slides theres really nothing you can do to stop it. They say you might as well be safe and get out. Anthony and norah . Ben tracy, thanks. Its too cold to be raining in chicago this morning. The windchill there is below zero. This arctic blast stretches from the Northern Rockies to the east coast. Elaine quijano is in detroit, one of the cities hardest hit by the cold winter. Elaine, good morning. Reporter good morning, anthony and norah and to our viewers in the west. The temperature here in detroit is hovering in the single digits, and to the north in parts of michigans upper peninsula, the temperatures dipped to minus 30 degrees. Now, around here sections of the Detroit River have frozen over. Residents are struggling to deal with the punishing conditions. The midwest is experiencing its most extreme winter in decades. Its cold as hell right now, man. Its like 1,000 knives hitting you in every direction. Reporter recordsetting snow paired with subzero temperatures have struck the area hard with detroit topping the National Weather services misery index. It has been a brutal winter. 88 of the great lakes are frozen over, the largest cover in 20 years. And temperatures have turned deadly. At least 21 people have frozen to death in minnesota, including a 6yearold girl who was discovered outside her home thursday in behmidji. Police are investigating her death. In indiana, windblown snow caused near whiteout conditions leading to a massive pileup in ft. Wayne, involving at least 15 vehicles. Detroit has endured temperatures below freezing for 69 days this winter. Restless locals are finding ways to brave the outdoors. If you stand still for any length of time, youre going to get hypothermia or frostbite, so youve got to get near a nice, warm fire like this and youve got to move around a little bit. Youll stay nice and warm. Reporter detroit Public Schools are closed today because of the bitter cold and the thaw is still days away. Temperatures here are not expected to get above freezing until next wednesday. Anthony and norah . Elaine quijano, thank you. This new Weather Threat is so big, we brought meteorologist megan glaros of our partner station back here. Good morning. Good morning, norah and anthony, and good morning to everyone in the west bracing for a big storm system. It has already started to rain along the coast of california and on off in towards washington and oregon but watch what happens through the course of the day today. As we see, the storm system continues to bring moisture all the way across the nation sending it as far east as maine by the end of the weekend. But for you in the west it is all about the intense rainfall totals, which could top 2 1 2 inches across l. A. In towards the foothills, it could potentially be more and that brings about the threat for mud slides or debris issues and also for flooding. So, that will be a huge factor going into the next several days. The low pressure then tracks eastward, picking up some very cold air and creating an issue of snow that could extend all the way from idaho to the east coast as the low pressure system continues to track in that direction. Were going to see some ice on the southern extent of the storm system. And as we continue to track it looking at the potential, believe it or not, for more Winter Weather in the first week of march were looking at anywhere from 6 to 12 inches all the way from chicago to new york city. So, we are going to be watching this storm system through the course of the weekend. Here we go yet again. Anthony . Norah . I guess my plan to put the snow shovel away after march 1st isnt going to work. Megan, thank you very much. The unusually rough winter may explain storm clouds for the economy. Fed chair janet yellen says shes keeping an eye on a slowdown in Consumer Spending and job growth. Yellen told Congress Thursday she thinks the cold played a role, but she isnt sure how much. Ukraines ousted president , viktor yanukovych, broke his silence this morning in russia for the First Time Since leaving his country. He blames his opponent for last weeks deadly protests and there is new drama in the key region of crimea. An official now says ukraine still controls two airports reportedly taken over by prorussian gunmen while dozens of russian marines surround a Coast Guard Base. Clarissa ward is in kiev with the deposed president s defiance. Good morning. Reporter good morning. In that press conference yanukovych said that she is stillhe is still the president of ukraine. He claims that he did not run away, that he was simply forced to leave because his car was fired on. Meanwhile, in crimea the situation remains tense and very fluid after militants took over two airports there. Yanukovych in his press conference called on the crimeans to avoid bloodshed, and he said that the Russian Military should not get involved. Outside crimeas Capital Airport this morning gunmen in military fatigues patrolled. Its not known who these men are, but they are believed to be members of a prorussian militia. The airport raid happened late last night. Militants took over the control tower and part of the main terminal. So far, flights are still operating normalallyly. The men said they were just there to prevent violence. Were here to insure general order, one of the gunmen said. We dont want radicals coming on planes from kiev. 60 of crimeas residents are ethnically russian. Many here see the new ukrainian leadership as illillegitimate raising the prospect of a proseparatist rebellion. Today russia began massive military exercises on ukraines border with some 150,000 troops involved. Demitri Dimitri Trenin a military analyst in moscow explained their position. We mean business. We do not want to invade. We do not want to take over countries, but we will stand out to defend our interests. Reporter tensions have been further aflamed by the news yesterday that russia has given refuge to ousted president viktor yanukovych, who is wanted in ukraine on charges of mass murder for his role in the killings of 80 protesters last week. People here like 20yearold student tanya, are appalled that he will not face justice. I want we want to kill him, because he is not a human. He is a monster. Reporter hes a monster . Yes. Reporter in his press conference yanukovych also said that he he plans to return to ukraine once the security situation allows it but he said he will not participate in mays president ial elections. He called them illegitimate. For cbs this morning, Clarissa Ward kiev. Very fragile situation there. Clarissa ward thank you. If you have a web cam, your picture may be in the hands of British Intelligence this an flash Flood Warnings for the cities of redwood city, menlo park, East Palo Alto, palo alto, Mountain View and los altos until 7 30 a. M. At 6 49 this morning, National Weather service Doppler Radar indicated an area of moderate to heavy rain south of highway 35, or 9 miles southwest of cupertino moving northeast at 25 miles per hour. Flash Flood Warning means that flooding is occurring or is eminent. This concludes the activation of the Emergency Alert system. Vast amounts of private electronic communication, including emails, and course, now pictures. The Guardian Newspaper reports that an official British Spy Agency gchq used software provided by the ns toonka to vacuum up millions of video conversations by yahoo users. That is, it was invisibly eavesdropping on conversations like this, the kinds of things that are used more and more these days to chat or even do business. But because video files are so large, the uk Government Computers were only capturing one still frame every five minutes. Yahoo which said it knew nothing about the program, said it amounted to a whole new level of violation of our users privacy. They admit the program is called Operation Optic nerve, working with face recognition technology. The government says it was entily legal. Philip mud, a former analyst, says whether its legal is another question. The question this raises is the same question thats raised by the acquisition of phone and email data. Its not whether you can do it its whether citizens in britain and the United States believe their governments should do it. Reporter the allegation that the government is not only reading and listening but also watching our private lives is bound to intensify that debate. There is one thing, though, thats got britons laughing this morning. The revelation in the gchq documents that their analysts were warned to use caution when looking at the intercepts because up to 11 of them contained what it called undesirable nudity. Incredible. Elizabeth palmer thank you. And it is rare to hear the president of the United States use the east room of the white house to talk about his past drug use but it was part of the president s announcement of a new initiative to create opportunities for minority boys and young men. In a group, in front of a group of chicago teenagers, the president shared some of his own personal struggles while growing up. I didnt have a dad in the house. And i was angry about it even though i didnt necessarily realize it at the time. I made bad choices. I got high without always thinking about the harm that it could do. I didnt always take school as seriously as i should have. I made excuses. Sometimes i sold myself short. Now the president says his family and teachers never gave up on him. Several foundations are pledging 200 million to help with this new program. General motors is racing to fix more than 1. 5 million faulty ignition switches this morning. The automaker issued another apology thursday for its failure to act earlier, saying we deeply regret the events that led to the recall and this investigation. The defect is linked to 31 crashes and 13 deaths. Federal regulators now face criticism over how they handled the investigation. Senator Edward Markey wants changes to the way problems are reported. I think that obviously, General Motors withheld critical information, but nhtsa could have been and should have been more aggressive in requesting the information necessary in order to have an earlier warning of the danger that the public was running in driving one of these vehicles. Documents show gm knew about the defect in 2004 but only issued the first recall this month. Additional tests are planned for 13 workers exposed to a radiation leak in new mexico. The leak happened two weeks ago at the waste isolation pilot plant near carlsbad. Its the nations first deep underground nuclear dump. The employees were working above ground when the leak was detected down below. Preliminary tests show they inhaled radioactive particles. The president of the facility says the workers are being monitored. It is too early to say that you know to make any conclusions about whether my employees are in danger or not, and we will take care of them you know and make sure that they are, you know taken care of. The leak came just nine days after a truck in the plants mines caught fire. Officials say the incidents though, are not related. Russia is making good on a recent promise to expand its military footprint around the globe. A russian warship is docked in cubas savannah harbor this morning. Thats about 100 miles from florida. The ship quietly floated into the cruise terminal with no explanation from cuban state media. The russian ship is from a class generally used for intelligencegathering. Time to show you this mornings headlines. The Washington Post says attorney general eric holder is back home after being hospitalized for several hours. Holder is 63 years old. He felt faint and short of breath during a meeting yesterday. He was diagnosed with an elevated heart rate. Holder received medication restoring the rate to normal. A Spokesman Says the attorney general experienced similar but milder symptoms a few years ago. Usa today reports members of Congress Took nearly 4 million worth of free trips last year. Thats the highest price tag for travel funded by outside groups in a decade. Family members went along nearly 40 of the time. New jerseys starledger looks at jokes made by former aides of governor Chris Christie in the bridgegate scandal, this time aimed at a prominent rabbi. Newly released documents show flights to tel aviv delayed. And the wall street journal reported losses last year after a disappointing Holiday Shopping season but jcpenneys stock jumped more than 21 last friday. Shares of sears climbed 6 . The fresno bee says an Appeals Court threw out a conviction of a driver ticketed for using the map feature on his cell phone. Steven briggs looked at his iphone while stuck in traffic. The law prohibits listening and talking on cell phones but not reading maps, important distinction. Ahead, a rare look inside secret service headquarters. How agents plan to find the cyber criminals who. A major storm now pounding the bay area. More heavy rainfall on the way. Floo