One mans reply. First we look at todays eye opener, your world in 90 sko seconds. A desperate search for those missing. A deadly avalanche buries a hotel. A series of earthquakes in italy triggered the avalanche. In iran a highrise building collapsed. 30 firefighters were killed. You enter this white house for the lowest Approval Ratings of any person whos assumed the presidency. I have to tell you, the polls werent always right during the election year, so im a little skeptical about the polls going into the inauguration. About 5,000 democrats are going to boy caught the inauguration. I will be there and so will michelle. Massive flooding swept through houston. Torrential rain wreaking havoc on several roadways. I was scared. The water kept on rising and rising and rising. The door of baseballs hall of fame is swing open for three of americas great. Make some noise. He came out for the 43rd peoples choice awards. All that if you dont win an award, you will be given one of these adorable babies. The biggest shock, novak djokovic, hes been knocked out by a wildcard. And all that matters. People are looking at you like whats up with that guy . Now and then. Ill take that. Youre the ambassador. Lets talk about global warming. Ill do that. On cbs this morning. President obama had his final press conference today. Maybe the final press conference. Well have to fight for it, not take it for granted. I know you will help us do that. Thank you very much, press corps. Good luck. Gud luck. See ya, wouldnt want to be ya. Welcome to cbs this morning. And all that rescue effort is going on right now in italy to reach at least 30 people at a fourstar ski resort. An avalanche buried their hotel under mounds of snow. Some people trapped inside are sending Text Messages with desperate pleas for help. Now, this is uning in a mountainous region in northern rome thats been hit hard by deadly earthquakes. Allen pizzey is tracking the deadly earthquake from rome. Good morning. Reporter good morning. The avalanche came after a series of aftershocks but the epicenter was in the mountains covered by days of heavy snowfall. The alarm was raised by two survivors who helped on skis after 4 00 in the morning. The massive cascading snow slammed into the hotel rigopiano. The first thought was many were dead. Inside the hotel they found a scene of utter destruction. The weight of the snow appeared to have collapsed the hotel down to the ground floor. Heavy snow hampered ambulances ability to get to the scene. Even plows struggled to get through. A text message included the message, be calm. Tomorrow youll come down. But another one received by rescue workers simply said, help, we are dying of the cold. The area is part of the region that was hit by a series of four strong earthquakes on wednesday, the biggest of which was 5. 7 on the rick tore scale. Multiple aftershocks followed, but its not clear if they are what triggered the ashe lanch. A major quake last august killed nearly 300 people and ruined Historic Buildings in towns and hamlets. This time it added to the disaster that one described as apop lick tick. The hotel was built to be earthquakeproof, but theres no protection from avalanches. Allen. Thank you. Ald being in iran collapsed this morning. Irans state run tv said 30 firefighters were killed. Most people had evacuated. In just over 24 hours donald trump will be sworn in as our 45th president. He made an unexpected visit last night to his Washington Hotel a few blocks from the white house. Surprised hotel guests captured the video. The president elect left his press pool behind. Major garrett is in washington where the Trump Transition Team is rejecting reports of a rocky transition of power. Good morning. Good morning. Its chaotic and stressful. That is especially true when trump is using younger less experienced teams than teams before it. Heres another story. The number of democrats boycotting the inauguration is now up to 61, around a third of the House Democratic caucus. In washington last night the president elect attended two dinners including one for his cabinet nominees. At best only three of those could be confirmed by the nomination, secretaries of defense, homeland security, and the head of the cia. Even with the republican senate, mr. Trump is on pace for one of the slowest confirmation timelines in modern u. S. History. Under the same circumstances, incoming president s obama in 2009 and bush 2001 each had seven confirmed on inauguration day. This is a swamp cabinet filled with bankers and billionaires. They blamed it on the democrats who threaten to hold up floor votes unless more time is given. Its no surprise the republicans want to rush through these hearings. They dont want people to know the true views of their nominees. Of particular concern for democrats and even some republicans nominee Rex Tillerson who developed a friendly relationship with Vladimir Putin as ceo of exxonmobil. Im very concerned about someone who took a friendship award from Vladimir Putin who is a butcher. Aside from a fiveminute call last month, tillerson has not spoken to or with secretary john kerry. Theres been little contact between the secretary of state and mr. Trumps team. Amid the cabinet scramble the president elect tweeted a photo of himself in his florida home purportedly writing his inaugural address. In it he appears to be holding a sharpie and a legal pad. They say its a joke because hes been working on it, not from scratch. It was an emphasis of big em nomic security goals and setting a populist antiwashington tone. Norah . It is not boring, thats for sure. This morning treasury secretary nominee steve money chin and rick perry are the latest trump picks to face questioning. Senate democrats grilled the epa nominee scott pruitt and hhs nominee tom pruitt. The u. N. Ambassador nominee also testified. Hell name former georgia governor sonny purdue to be his secretary of agriculture. Nancy cordes is at the front of the capitol where the inauguration will take place tomorrow. Good morning. Reporter good morning. By the end of the day, 15 of trumps nominees will have gone before congress and the fight right now is how many of those will be confirmed tomorrow right after mr. Trump takes the oath of office. Democrats are trying to slow the process. They say they have ethics concerns about some of them including one who testified yesterday. It really beg fres the quest sir, when you say you did not they hammered tom price over a stock deal wednesday. You made a decision to purchase that stock now to broker, yes or no . That was a decision i made, yes. He purchased stock in a drug company at a special price while helping form legislation to speed drug approval. You were notified of this trade on april 4th, 2016. Did you take additional actions after that date to advance your plan to help the company that you now own stock in . Im offended by the insinuation, senator. Reporter if confirmed, price would oversee any replacement to obamacare. You may have an insurance card. It may have a wonderful name of an Insurance Company on it, but you dont have any care because you cant afford the deductible. Reporter down the hall youre the attorney general. Obviously you have stood up and said you will do everything you can to stop future earthquakes as a result of fracking. Senator, ive acknowledged im concerned. You have acknowledged youre concerned. Reporter democrats were also throwing punches at scott pru t pruett, oklahomas attorney general. If thats the kind of pe a administrator you will be, youre not going to get my vote. Reporter they argued that his locktime ties to Energy Companies will prevent him from carrying out the core mission of the Environmental Protection agency. Pruitt said thats not the case. This paradigm that we live within today is something that i think is just a false narrative. Reporter mr. Trumps pick for u. S. Ambassador to the u. N. , South Carolina governor nikki haley, testified yesterday and describes nato as vital the same week trump called it obsolete. And that, charlie, has left some european diplomats to say theyre confused about the incoming administration. Thank you, nancy. Pressure will be on mike pence and president elect trump. We spoke with pence yesterday from our set on the National Mall in washington about the expectations and the transition. As you know, you enter this white house and this city with the lowest Approval Ratings of any person whos assumed the presidency. What kind of challenge is that, and at the same time, how important is it to double the efforts to reunite. I think the American People are going to see a president inaugurated this friday who is going to keep the promise he made on election night, president of all of the people of this country. The polls werent always right during the election year, so im a little skeptical about the polls going into the inauguration, but i can tell you the president elect and our whole team are ready to go to work and really advance the kind of policies that, to borrow his phrase, will make America Great again. Youve been asked this before. Tweets, are they, a, necessary, b, distracting, and does he have to tilt at every windmill that criticizes . You know, i think one of the really refreshing things about the president elect is that he speaks his mind. Sometimes he does that from a podium. Sometimes he does that in an interview. Sometimes he does it on twitter. Does it send a message on the economy and Foreign Policy . I dont believe it does. Youre okay with that. Yeah. I can tell you some of the treatment hes gotten and we continue to get in the media is frustrating and his ability to literally reach tens of millions of people with his particular issue or of particular news is of value to the administration. I expect to continue to see him use that. You ooh going to see a President Donald Trump who will use that bully pull pet in new ways to communicate to the general people and market support to bring real change to washington, d. C. , and restore our place in the economy and the world. Wow. Mike pence also said the president elect is confident in the team he chose to lead in the Intelligence Community that mr. Trump has repeatedly criticized. Regarding his own role, he said, im just here to serve. President obama is gearing up for his last full day as commander in chief. He held his final conference yesterday. His first was two weeks after he was sworn in. Nearly eight years later he took questions in the white house for the last time. The president said he will not remain silent if what he says americas core values are threatened. Margaret brennan was in the room yesterday. Good morning. Good morning. President obama said hes looking forward to a break from public life but then he rattled off a list of actions that would prompt him to protest, specifically if donald trump deported immigrant children covered by the socalled d. R. E. A. M. Act. The notion that we would arbitrarily or because of politics punish those kids when they didnt do anything wrong themselves, i think, would be something that would merit me speaking out. The president said he would speak out on actionsly. Ing dissent, the press, or voting rights. The outgoing commander in chief said lifting sanctions in russia could be dangerous, saying that he, too, tried to work with mosc moscow, but relations soured in 2012 after president putin returned with a antiamerican rhetoric. I think it would best serve not only american interests but the interest of preserving International Norms to make sure we dont confuse why these sanctions have been imposed with a whole set of other issues. Reporter surround yourself with strong advisers, mr. Obama urged, and think twice before taking the provocative action of moving the u. S. Embassy to the disputed city of jerusalem. President obama shared what he told his own daughters about trumps vow to erase their fathers legacy. They were disapoichblt point. We tried to teach them hope and the only thing besides the end of the world is the end of the world. And he tried to end on a up note. I think were going to be okay. Reporter he urged the president to keep the public informed. Notable words, norah. All right. Thank you very much, margaret. Well have the closing line there. Were all going to be okay. I think thats a very powerful message. At his core hes optimistic. Yes, always is. Cbs news will bring you allday coverage. It begins tomorrow. Well be live from washington, d. C. Former president george h. W. Bush is resting comfortably in a houston hospital this morning. The 92yearold is stable in the intensive care unit. A family spokesperson said he has been battling pneumonia. His wife, 91yearold barbara bush, is also in the hospital as a precaution. The former first lady is not in intensive care. Omar villafranca is outside houston Methodist Hospital where the 41st president is being treated. Reporter good morning. He was quietly admitted on saturday. According to a spokesman, his wife of 72 years, barbara, was taken to the hospital wednesday after she was not feeling well for several days. Stable now and resting comfortably in the icu. Hes going to stay there for observation. Reporter president bush is recovering from what jim mcgrath describes as acute problem stemming from pneumonia. He said hes a fighter. He es 92. He has pneumonia. Hes in the icu. Again, you dont bet against george bush. He doesnt let age slow him down. He jumped out of an airplane. He has parkinsons that has limited his ability. President bush sent a note saying he apologizes for not being able to atenltd the inauguration. He says, my doctor says if i sit outside in january, it will likely put me six feet under. Same for barbara. President elect trump tweeted back and thanked him for his wonderful letter. President george w. Bush said he will be attending. They have been a constant source of friendship. We want to send our love and prayers to him. Another one of his son, president george w. Bush still plans to attend the inauguration tomorrow. Charlie . Thanks. I think all americans feel what the americans said. This man was much loved and is much loved. By everybody. According to the weather houston is expecting more rain after the storm brought mattive flooding. Roads became rivers and drivers were forced to leave their cars behind. There were more than 60 calls for rescue. One man waded through chesthigh water to rescue drivers an a personals from a bus flooded on a street. Ahead, what scientists hope to learn from the metal formation that is the size announcer this National Weather report sponsored by weightwatchers. Lose weight and enjoy the things you love. Weightwatchers. Live fully. Britains former ambassador to moscow said unverified reports of russian blackmail should set off alarms. Ahead, why the dip employee mat backs the former spy who complied with the alleged trumps dossier. The news is back in the morning right here on cbs this morning. Lungs. I never thought that at only 45 it would give me a heart attack. My tip is; do your heart a favor, and quit now. announcer you can quit. For free help, call 1800quitnow. 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Investigators say two armed men entered remix at 7 00 oclock last night, held up a clerk and customer. Short time later more robbers entered and stole cash, fur, leather jackets, boots and other items. Lets check the forecast with lauren casey. It should be a thighs day. Nice day mix of sun and included in store for today and very nice element we will see temperatures at 54 degrees 15 degrees above our average for today and then tonight chill which above average mostly clear dropping down to 36 degrees and tomorrow still mild near 50 degrees but rain develops as we head in the afternoon and meisha, for upcoming weekend it is january but we will be again in the middle 50s to kick things off on saturday. Craziness, but we love it. Thanks much for that. Good morning. Happy gateway to the weekend. We have a problem spot out there you can see schuylkill westbound at gladwynn pulled off to that right shoulder but you will slow down and have gaper delay in that area another accident here in cheltenham ashburn road at old york road you will use alternate spring avenue as your best bet. Stay away if you can. Another accident pennsylvania turnpike eastbound near mid county and we have another one northeast extension northbound past mid county spilled off to the shoulder. Rahel, back to you. Our next update 7 55. Up next on cbs this morning shedding new light on