Were grabbing our stuff and the explosion hit. And it hit you like a shock wave. Up in flames, a massive gas explosion rocks kansas city. Investigators are looking into whether a gas leak may have triggered the fire. More than a dozen people were injured and even cadaver dogs were brought in to make sure no one was buried underneath. A search for the people is going on right now and will for some time. Oscar pistorius is back in south africa court this morning for a second day of his bail hearing. His girlfriend model Reeva Steenkamp was shot to death. Jesse jackson jr. Will plead guilty for misusing Campaign Funds. This is nod an abstraction. People will lose their jobs. Hundreds of people are stranded on a highway in north los angeles. As Pope Benedict prepares to step down the buzz is blowing that an american could be next in line. Apple is the latest victim of Cyber Attacks with the same malware that hit twitter and facebook. All that you want a cat fight . Oh we have a cat fight. A pair of brooding bobcats. P and all that matters you dont need 30 rounds to protect yourself. Buy a shotgun. Buy a shotgun. Joe biden being joe biden. On cbs this morning. Pizza shop owner is offering anyone who shows a shotgun or permit 15 off their order. I hate to break it to him, but every store has that discount. Captioning funded by cbs welcome to cbs this morning. Norah odonnell is on assignment. President obama is warning about acrosstheboard budget cuts soon to kick in. He warns people will lose their jobs and services will be slashed. We are now nine days away from those deep automatic cuts. Bill plante is at the white house. Bill, good morning. Reporter good morning, gayle. Top congressional leaders say its the president s fault and they dont want these cuts to happen even though some of their members do. The president says he doesnt want the cuts to happen either. Today he sits down with local tv reporters to as the white house official puts it to turn up the pressure for republicans to compromise. With just over a week until the cuts take effect the president s placing the blame for the sequester squarely at the doorstep of the republicans in congress. The last thing our families can afford right now is pain imposed unnecessarily by by partisan recklessness. Reporter hell hit the road to argue his case campaign stile regarding burgeoning budget cuts. He wants to close loopholes mostly against the wealthy to get more revenue. If it takes effect it will mean 1. 2 trillion in automatic acrosstheboard spending cuts including 46 billion of the military budget for this year. If that happens, he says its the president s fault, not theres. In response to mr. Obamas plan House Speaker boehner said the president offered no credible plan that can Pass Congress only more calls for higher taxes. Many pundits say the sequester falls short, that we need 4 trillion in cuts. Reporter and as washington argues whose fault the cuts will be if they happen nearby local governments home to federal workers and contractors warn that massive layoffs could cripple their economies. We dont need to wait to see the white in the eyes before we start responding because of the potential that we see. This challenge is real and real right now. Reporter well, with the deadline still nine days away, theres still a lot of posturing, and theres no sign that anyones trying to make a deal. Administration tells us that there are no secret talks or negotiations under way. The reason for that of course the Obama Administration thinks its winning this debate and republican pressure will force republicans to give in. Charlie, gayle . Thanks. Cbs Political Correspondent john dickerson. Good morning, john. Good morning, charlie. Put this for us in terms of what were talking about and what were not talking about. Its a good point. Step back here. What were not talking about in this sequester is the actual longterm drivers of this deficit problem so as people look at the fight, which is the 900th chap tur in the con stangt fights of the budget whats happening is the debate about dumb cuts to a portion of the budget, and everybody agrees theyre dumb in terms of just being cut. The longterm those longterm costs are Health Care Costs and so if washington cant agree on these fights they really cant agree on the harder fights about longterm Health Care Costs that are part of entitlement. What are the shortterm gains and longterm gains that either party can get it. Clearly they show the upper hand. Thats the shortterm game. Polls would suggest the president has the advantage there. But in the longterm picture economies tend to be talked about by the president ial terms and what the white house is worrying about is this economy which is struggling would really take a hit if the sequester took a hit over the long period of time. That in the end through historys eyes, that makes the obama economy weaker and thats not great legacy item for this prb. So, john with nine days and counting and no talks scheduled on either side do you think its inevitable its going to happen . Its inevitable well get to march 1st. We talk about the budget fight as game of chicken. Its really a game of uncle, which is to say whos going to cave in first. Who wins or loses in this with each party blaming the other . They both lose in terms of the country looking at them. The republicans seem to be losing more. Theyre trying to reorder the argument here and connect with peoples fundamental feeling about the size of government especially with tax time coming people paying these big tax bills and wondering what theyre getting for it. Thats the hopes. But so far theyre showing the president with a little stronger hand here. John dickerson, thank you. Police with search dogs searching for bodies this morning in the wreckage of a kansas city restaurant. Dave hull of our kansas city affiliate kctv is at the scene. Reporter an explosion rocked the Kansas City Community after 6 00 p. M. On tuesday. The towering flame was over a block and injured several severely. Many in the area had been complaining of a strong smell of gas. We finally called the gas company. They came out, checked inside our building said we needed to evacuate. It wasnt two minutes when we were grabbing our stuff and the explosion hit. It hits you like a shock waive. Reporter they claim it could have been triggered by a Construction Company hits an underground gas pipe. Kansas citys mayor is counting his blessings. I was there. On a tuesday night that place would often be packed so i was really praying that wasnt the casend and i dont believe it was. Reporter jay jays had been cleared out but they were still combing through the smoking rubble. We have had cadaver dogs on the pile and they have not indicated that have made any hits whatsoever. But we continue to look and are concerned but we do have reports that were looking for two people who may be missing. Reporter later this morning theyre going to hold a press conference to tell us about the search and exactly what sparked this fire. In south africa this mornig dramatic new testimony regarding oscar pistorius. Hes a double amputee runner accused of hurting his girlfriend. Police say they found tess test trone and needles in his bedroom. Emma has the latest. Reporter another day of dramatic evidence. The rain pouring down outside the court as inside the detective leading the investigation told how he was called to pistoriuss home in the early hours of valentines day. He said there he saw Reeva Steenkamp steenkamps body lying at the bottom of the stairs. He said she was menswearing a white tank top and shorts and covered in towels. In court the athlete the detective described how she suffered three bullet woulds to her body in three places on the right side one in the head one in the hip, another in the elbow on her arm which broke the bone. He said he would have had to have fired through the bathroom door at such an angle it would be extremely difficult to do it. Also pris torous wept throughout much of the evidence as he heard a witness talking the argument a neighbor hearing shots fired and another screaming over more shots. Them they forced the detectives to admit that he had been about a quarter mile away. There has been a discussion of about the testosterone. Pistorius claims it was a herbal remedy. It was conceded there were no discrepancyies discrepancies. His family seemed relieved as this Court Hearing continues. Back to you. Thank you. There is no relief in sight for drivers today. The average price of average gas is 3. 76 a gallon. Today is the 34th day that gas has gone up. Manuel bojorquez is at a refinery in new jersey. Good morning. Reporter good morning, charlie. Good morning gayle. The gas has got up 46 cents. Theyre shutting down a refinery behind me. Firet at two different chevron facilities in california are bad news for drivers on the west coast while in the east coast they continue to pinch. Many plants typically go down for routine maintenance in the winter months when cold weather means fewer drivers on the road. Other drivers are switching over to produce summer gasoline a special blend that produces pollution but costs more. Id say well peek out between 3. 80 and 410. I think the upper great lakes has the potential to go up to 4 as will california. Reporter over the last two years gas has been almost 10 more expensive in the spring than in the fall. This year the increase has come earlier. The investors chase the prices higher. Its like move up the oscars and the grammys. What can we do but pay, pay, pay. Reporter Gas Producers along the gulf have plenty of it but cant get it where it needs go fast enough. We dont have enough ship to move Refined Products from port to port so a place like the u. S. East coast is not getting gasoline necessarily as rapid of a pace from the gulf coast because the ships are too expensive to move it. Reporter one thing people can do to pay less at the pump is to drive more fuel efficient vehicles. But so far hire gas prices do not seem to be playing into the gas prices. In february the two top vehicles were pickup trucks. Theyre expected to plead guilty to charges they spent more than 700,000 in Campaign Funds for personal use. Jay le vane of our chicago cbs team is live. Good morning. Good morning. Whats expect are negotiated plea agreements signed by both jesse and jackie. Theyre now claiming a troubled marriage. Wining and dining a washington restaurant hostess. Went to jewelry, furs other personal items including tens of personal items of bruce lee, Martin Luther king jr. And Michael Jackson memorabilia. Only the congressman is charged with the actual conspiracy. Jackson who has been diagnosed with a bipolar disorder considered an insanity defense before it will be up to the judge to sentence him anywhere from five to ten years of jail. He tried to protect his wife and mother of his children but couldnt because she signed tax returns. It may have led to much less serious tax ft. Lauderdale charged. Both have apologize and is hoping his mental disability and their strong record of Public Service will be time enough. How much discretion does the judge have . Total discretion charlie. He has the ability to sep or reject the sentence. Five years from jail for him or probation to a year and a half for her will be the actually sentence in the case. General john allen will not be the next commander of the u. S. Nato forces in europe. He announced hes retiring to care for his wife. His nomination had been put on hold for time because of details with a florida socialite but he was cleared of any wrongdoing. Last week he talked with 60 minutes correspondent lara logan. I get the impression sitting here its not just a job or carrying the next promotion. Youre caring this in your heart. Yes. I almost cant imagine being anywhere else. This is completely consuming to me and im dedicated 24 hour as day to the magnificent troops the after against and the cause. This is very personal to me and i take it very person. Its time to show you some of the headlines. They argue how much can be donated. Its the First Finance case to go before the court since a controversial decision Citizens United ruling in 2010. The l. A. Times says a student. Went on a shooting spree in Orange County california. Police say he carjack add drug and shot and wounded three and killed many me. It ended when the gunman committed suicide. They rose almost 4 in 2010. Prescription drugs were involved in more than half of all overdoses. The New York Post says documentary maker ken burns has scored a victory. New york city wanted him to hand over footage from his film but the judge rules tuesday the materialize is protected by reporters privilege. Some macs owned or used by apple employees has become a victim of malicious software. A winter storm warning is in effect for the mountain areas of california. 4 yesterday north of los angeles the high washington had to be shut down and there were stranded cars. And its rough going in minnesota today. High winlds caused near white joud conditions. Police say an suv was going too fast and rolled over. The driver wasnt hurt but he did get a ticket. I guess he didnt get the driving lesson. You have to jaufs your driving to the weather conditions. You know that. Announcer this National Weather report sponsored by the u. S. Postal service. Schedule your free package pickup today. A state trooper is cited a deadly crash but the case is crossed out in a twominute Court Hearing filled with laughter. Do you agree with the dismissal . Why not. Im eager to please. This morning, details of the case that has some people furious. How did eight men drive into an airport in behm jum and drive out with 50 million in diamonds . Was it an inside job . Plus government gridlock reaches outer space. How our inability to get anything done in washington can interfere with our ability to forecast winter storms only on cbs this morning. Announcer this portion of cbs this morning sponsored by usaa serving the financial needs of current military members and their families. ] fort benning, georgia, in 1999. [ male announcer ] usaa Auto Insurance is often handed down from generation to generation because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaas commitment to serve the military, veterans, and their families is without equal. Begin your legacy. Get an autoinsurance quote. Usaa. We know what it means to serve. You said big vitamins are hard to take. At nature made, we said, well come up with something easier. New full strength minis. Multivitamin softgels, 36 smaller, just one per day. Of course everybody has secrets. In fact. You are looking at one of my secrets right now. 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[ female announcer ] caltrates done even more to move us. Because vitamin d3 helps bones absorb calcium, caltrates double the d. It now has more than any other brand to help maximize calcium absorption. So caltrate women can move the world. And. Done. Did you just turn your ringer off so no one would interrupt us . Oh no, i. Just used my geico app to get a tow truck. Its gonna be 30 minutes. Oh, so that means that we wont be stuck up here, for hours, with nothing to do. Oh i get it, you wanna pass the time, huh. holds up phone fruit ninja emergency roadside assistance. Just a click away with the geico mobile app. A deadly accident involving a Florida State trooper sparked outrage last year. No a courtroom video is adding salt to one familys 26 minutes past 7 00. Pretty cloudy, pretty cold. Sharon has your updated traffic picture right after martys first warning weather. Lets take a look at first warning doppler. A few clouds across the region. Its a lake effect. If you see a quick snow shower its not a giant concern. 33 now 37 only as the high this day. With a windchill of 27. Here is Sharon Gibala at wjz traffic control. Good morning. A few accidents out there. Now some delays as well. One of those accidents is going to be to the east of the city, middle river compass road. Charleston road also at 5 00 avenue. Theres an accident on vail near grass ton road. One more southbound richie highway at rice road. On the beltway delays not quite as bad as usual. 35 is your average on the west