Spring time. Millions slam by another arctic assault. In the south sleet, snow and freezing rain. American Airlines Flight after landing in Dallas Fort Worth the nose gear slipped off the taxi. The new Veterans Affairs secretary admits he lied. Made the erroneous claim last month. Could be on the works to resolve a scandal. Senate leaders try to separate Homeland Security and the president S Immigration orders. A Connecticut Bank executive police say the manager forced to drive to the bank and empty the safe. We are considering all possibilities whether or not he was coerced or a suspect. Rescue operation to free manatees stuck in a storm drain in florida. A suspected drunk driver plowed into a safety barrier. The truck driver is expected to be okay. All of that bright light streaking through. Nasa has identified it as a piece of satellite. I dont think that is a space ship. A blind minnesota man just saw his wife for the first time in a decade thanks to a bionic eye. On cbs this morning. You are kind of upstaging me here. This mornings eye opener is presented by toyota. Lets go places. Welcome to cbs this morning. The veteran Affairs Secretary this morning admits he lied about his military service. Robert mcdonald was appointed to the Administration Last year to clean up the agency after a series of scandals. He said he served in the special forces. That turned out not to be true. What the secretary is saying now. Secretary mcdonald was decorated for his military service he admits he was not a member of the u. S. Special forces. Now the man brought in to re reestablish the v. A. s credibility. The exchange happened in february. He was touring the streets of los angeles counting Homeless Veterans as part of a v. A. Program to help find them housing. Army navy . Army. What unit . Special forces. I was in special forces. Mcdonald was not in the special forces. He served for five years but mostly with the 82nd air Borne Division. His discrepancy was reported by the Huffington Post and mcdonald quickly admitted his exaggeration. He said while i was engaging a homeless individual to determine his veteran status i incorrectly stated that i had been in special forces. That was inaccurate and i apologize to anyone that was offended by my misstatement. My Worst Nightmare is i move a newspaper and find somebody tat i served with. That would break my heart because those guys looked out for me and i need to look out for them. Reporter the special forces are an elite fighting force that include among others the army rangers, green beret and navy s. E. A. L. S. They are deployed on special rescue missions. Mcdonald is a west point graduate hand picked by president obama to clean up a Veterans Affairs department plagued by scandal. Last november he told scott pelley about trying to repair the v. A. s image. We are simplesticly talking about people who violated our values. And those values are what . Integrity. Its advocacy. Its respect. Its excellence. These are the things that we try to do for our veterans. So far the president is taking mcdonald at his word that this was an on the fly misstatement and mota pattern of exaggeration. Veterans tend to grow highly suspicious of claims of service in the special service. Much of the south is caught in the grip of an icy storm this morning. Millions are waking up to another arctic blast plunging from canada. Wind chills are well below 0 in the northeast. Take a look at how ice is blanketing jackson, mississippi this morning. The biggest threat is in the atlanta area. Reporter good morning. Crews spent the night preparing the roads. As you can see right now the roads are fine. There is a little bit of rain coming down here. They could get snow throughout the morning today but they are expecting temperatures to go up by noon and everyone here is hoping to avoid what happened around the country where there were hundreds of accidents. This truck was unable to stop last night bouncing off a median after this texas highway turned into a frozen slide. He slammed on his brakes. Reporter a semi was left dangling off the edge of an overpass monday. Freezing rain and snow sent texas drivers spinning pushing and piling up. More than two dozen vehicles collided on interstate 40 many of them large trucks. It can look like it is passable but it can be black ice. Reporter a slick run way at Dallas Fort WorthInternational Airport caused an american Airlines Flight to skid. The conditions werent much better on this oklahoma highway. A whiteout brought traffic to a crawl. The streets in neighboring arkansas were an icy slippery mess. Drivers were left helpless on the side of the road and this red pickup began rolling backwards unable to make it up a hill. It only took two inches of sleet to cause big problems in texas. Officials here in atlanta are hoping to avoid a repeat of last januarys storm when icy conditions and just three inches of snow stranded people entheir cars overnight and backed up traffic for days turning the citys busiest highways into parking lots. They are keeping an eye out on tomorrow worried that they might see another round of snow. And no one here wants to repeat the mess of last year. Thank you so much. People in chicago are taking no chances as they bundle up against the cold. Much of the midwest and northeast are on track for the coldest february of history. Tracking the newest blast of bitter cold. We have broken records this morning in parts of new england. This is blast number one. Another coming for the middle and the end of the week and we have some of the top coldest februarys in new england, top five across midwest. Areas of snow northern georgia through carolinas. This storm will bring a couple of inches to the outer banks of the carolinas and come into new england with a quick few inches overnight tonight. All it takes is a trace to an inch to create slippery travel. The next disturbance on its tail flooding will be a concern across the southeast. A resolution may be closer this morning in the battle to fund the department of Homeland Security. Senate republicans backed away from a bill that only partially funds the department. That will not end the fight over the president s recent immigration actions. Nancy is on capitol hill with the next steps. Reporter the idea of a brief dhs shutdown was starting to make more and more republicans uncomfortable given the large variety of threats the u. S. Faces. This means the ultimate verdict on the president S Immigration plan granting legal status will likely come from the courts. The change in course means members of the coast guard, tsa, Border Patrol and secret service will likely not have to work without pay. Republican leader Mitch Mcconnell announced he would not use the Homeland Security funding bill to try to block the immigration bill. It is another way to get the senate unstuck and move the debate forward. Reporter republicans tried to pass a bill that would partially fund dhs while holding up money that would allow some a chance to stay in the u. S. Illegally. On monday democrats insist that Congress Fund the entire agency. Our message to these terrorists cannot be that we are going to shutdown the department of Homeland Security. Reporter the urgency increased over the weekend when news broke about terrorists taelsh targeting shopping malls. Homeland security security said the funding fight made it impossible. It is like trying to drive across country with no more than five gallons of gas in your tank. Reporter with or without funding the president S Immigration plan remains in legal limbo. A texas judge blocked the plan last week. On monday sought an emergency stay arguing that blocking the president S Immigration actions would quote harm the interests of the public. We still dont know exactly when the house and senate will vote to fully fund dhs. It will have to be before friday if they want to avoid a shutdown. A Court Decision on whether the president S Immigration plan can move forward could come as early as today. Thank you. Human rights activists say isis kidnapped dozens of people in christian villages in syria. At least 90 people were abducted in northeast syria. The area has seen an increase in fighting in recent days. The state Department Says a missionary from seattle was kidnapped in nigeria. Officials say a group of men captured her. Family and friends held a Prayer Service last night. A manhunt is underway for the suspects in a brazen failed credit union heist. Police say they strapped a fake bomb on an executive and ordered he empty his own vault. This is the second part of where it happened. According to police the executive says he was forced to drive to this credit union fearing for his life and the life of his mother. Police lights and sirens lit up the streets. This home was swarming with s. W. A. T. Teams after police were alerted to a bizarre extortion plot involving a high ranking bank employee. Police agencies investigating reports of home invasion. Information was developed that linked that incident to an ledged scheme. Reporter two intruders stormed the home of a cfo of achieve financial credit union. They strapped a device to him and claimed it was a bomb. They allegedly tied the bankers mother to a bed attaching a device to her. They allegedly told him that if he tried to contact the police. He was instructed to drive nine miles to the bank empty the vault and bring the money to them. He was able to alert authorities to his location outside the credit union by phoning a co worker who called police. Police officers did respond where they encountered an adult male in a Motor Vehicle who had what appeared to be an explosive device. Reporter police determined both devices were fake. Connecticut bomb squad, the device has been turned over to the bureau of investigation. Reporter cbs news had a chance to speak with the executives brother yesterday. He said he had no idea why anyone would want to do harm to his brother and mother. It is being determined his role in this investigation. Thanks. Gasoline prices that fell for months continue to creep up. This morning the average gallon of gas is 2. 31. Aaa says prices have risen for 29 straight days. The Largest Oil Refinery strike is in its fourth week. More than 6,500 workers are off the job. They work at plants that make up nearly onefifth of americas refining capacity. Cbs news contributor is with us this morning. Tell us about the scale of this strike. Let me give you some perspective. There are 142 Oil Refineries in the country. The united Steel Workers represent workers at 65 of those refineries. 15 of them including some other plants are on strike. So 20 of the cleanup on aisle 2. 20 of the oil capacity out there. That is to give you a sense of the scale. What is the strike about . The strike is not about money. The workers are saying we make a good living. About 62,000 a year with great benefits. The strike is about really related to security and how they feel about the safety of those facilities. As a consumer why should i care . It could mean the end of cheap gas . Not necessarily. It depends on how long it goes on. If we are sitting here six months from now you are going to care because right now the Oil Companies have patched together workers to keep this working at capacity. If this were to go on for a long time where we see instead of 15 plants its 30 or 50 then we have a different issue. To there are a lot of issues effecting gas prices right now including switching to the summer blend. Less emissions for people driving more. Oil prices have gone up so there are a bunch of issues there. Please get paper towels and clean up your mess. So sorry. Always good to have you. This morning 19 manatees are back in the wild thanks to a rescue operation that stretched late into the night. The large Marine Mammals were freed from a Central Florida storm drain where they were trapped. Satellite beach with how the manatees were saved. Good morning. Reporter good morning. This was a massive operation that involved not only the local police and Fire Departments but also crews from sea world and the florida fish and Wild Life Commission all here to rescue the manatees from the now exposed storm drain pipe. It took heavy Construction Equipment and dozens of fish and wild life crews to gently free the manatees one by one. Each release greeted by cheers from on lookers watching the dramatic rescue unfold. It is crazy. Reporter Officials Say 19 of the animals recently made their way into the underground drain but couldnt get out. One was following the other. There was no place for them to turn around. This morning i saw about ten of them go back throughout. I thought they were coming in and going out. I didnt think anything of it until this. This is terrible. Crews spent the night tearing up the ground and using a backhoe to hoist the creatures up including a mother and her calf. Some of the animals appeared in distress. After a checkup they were all cleared and released back into a nearby pond. Fish and wildlife Officials Say the manatees likely became stuck in the canal in an attempt to find warmer waters. Workers became worried after a local said they noticed a few missing. You have the whole community out here all working together and then have the final one come out. That was awesome. Believe it or not despite the ordeal all made it out of here in good condition. The city has put up a grate blocking the opening. Thank you so much. It is 7 19. Jim axelrod investigates this local Weather Report brought to you by cinderella. Ever flown to devils lake north dakota . Your tax dollars might have. The program sending nearly empty planes to americas back country. This portion of cbs this morning sponsored by fast signs. More than fast, more than signs. Jacks heart attack didnt come with a warning. Today, his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. If youve had a heart attack be sure to talk to your doctor before your begin an aspirin regimen. [richard] america. Did you file your taxes with someone else last year . If so,come into block and pay us half,what you paid them. 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Switch your prescriptions to walgreens where you could save even more on Medicare Part d with copays as low as zero dollars. At the corner of happy and healthy. Focus good morning, ukee washington. Lets check the forecast in the weather center. Once again ukee, the chill is here and here to stay. Well gets easing up midweek but will not have a chance to hit seasonable temperature. So the whole week will stay well below average. You have a beautiful sunrise underway. Its also creating sun glare and it will reflect off the fresh snow pack, folks watch out. Its a sunglasses kind ever day. Make sure you have those ready to government bundle up adequately. Look at the temperatures through friday. Normally 4 degrees. We wont have a chance to come close until next week. In the meantime, its a pretty quiet week of weather thank goodness jess. Thank goodness im happy to see double digits thats all i need. Thank you katie, coming up on 7 30 this is a shot of the kensington fire. We tushd to you could see smoke in that area. Take second or third to get by. Additionally market frankford line is getting by and theyre shuttling huntington to berks. Ukee back to you. Next update 7 55 on cbs this morning flight to nowhere why taxpayer dollars could pay for empty seats open plan