foster kids learn the skills to make their way in the world captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with russ mitchell.

>> good evening, russ mitch sell off tonight. storm systems on both coasts are dogging travelers and delaying flights on this last weekend of a very busy holiday travel season. more than 92 million people in all were expected to travel over the holidays. and it's not over yet. airlines remain fully bookedded through the end of the week. tony guida is tracking the homeward rush. >> reporter: this is how the holiday season ends, not with way bang but a whimper. more flights delays though nothing epic. in st. louis. >> we have two and a half hours to get to fly back to south carolina. and now our plane is having maintenance and i'm not sure when we're goinging to leave. >> reporter: in the new york area flight delays of about an hour because of rain in newark and equipment trouble at jfk. delays of more than two hours at san francisco all day, fog. no fun for final holiday travelers but not nearly as bad as it has been. >> we pray for the best.

>> reporter: for this new york traveler the good news was her prayers had every chance of being answered although check-in lines at laguardia airport were long, there were no flight delays in early afternoon. >> we're sending our son back to school to chicago and doesn't seem to be a problem. so far, so good. there being pleasant here at the airport and it's all working out well. >> reporter: easy when all flights are on time. >> if there is anything the major disruptions of the past week have taught us again, it's how fragile the air travel system really is. the smallest disruption here can cause major problems across the country. so what happens when the disruption is a blizzard in the northeast a week ago? more than 6500 flights cancelled from tacoma,ñi to tampa. tens of thousands of travelers sleeping in airports lounges and when planes are finally flying again, chaos. >> there's many more people flying than there would be any other week of the year. so that translates into packed planes.

now when there's a mass disruption that causes in this case more than 6,000 flight cancellations, there are very few available for stranded passengers to get into. >> reporter: the vast majority of american, of course, traveled this holiday season by road. and drivers in southern california have their hands full tonight. a section of i-5 north of los angeles is closed in both directions because of snow. and los angeles itself is expected to be hit with plenty of rain overnight and monday, perhaps as much as an inch and a half. troy? >> tony guida in new york city. thank you. >> bad weather is creating havoc for thousands of people in australia. mark phillips has more on the huge stretch of countryside that is underwater down under. >> reporter: after a ten year drought they called the big dry, australians are now having to cope with the big wet. an area bigger than texas is

covered in floodwater and the prediction is the worst is yet to come. the low-lying state of queensland which sprawls over the northeastern corner of the country is exposed to shifting weather patterns in the pas civic and this year summer rains have reached near record levels. the town of rockhampton, a community of 70,000 people has been isolated by rising waters. the highway cut, the airport out of service. voluntary evacuations have begun. >> well, i guess they would have to-- now are you saying no. >> reporter: the rains have eased but the floodwaters are still making their way downstream. and river heights are not expected to peak until the middle of the week when as much as 40% of the town's houses could be underwater. the mayor warns a compulsory evasion-- evacuation order may be imposed. >> we're still expecting possibly a height of about 9 meeters later tonight or early tomorrow morning. so this is a serious matter. we're still expectinging

that this potentially could be the second or third largest flood that this region has ever known. >> reporter: only one person has died in the flood so far, a woman's car swept away in the rising water. others have taken refuge in care centres. but it may be a month until the waters subside. mark phillips, cbs news, london. >> a magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit southern chile late today there were no immediate reports of death or damage. just last february a magnitude 8.8 quake killed at least 521 people in chile. it left 200,000 others homeless. >> a deadly gun fight in western ohio took the life of a sheriff's deputy yesterday during a shoot-out in a trailer park. law enforcement officers are strugglinging to determine what provoked the gunman to kill the deputy, a mother of two. here's cynthia bowers. >> 69's down, i repeat, 69 is down. >> reporter: the disturbance turned deadly moments after officers arrived to check

reports of gunfire. >> i've got a silver trailer with a man with way shotgun in it and i have suzanne down in front of that trailer. >> reporter: after an ambush police say that was sudden and without warning. >> the door of the trailer opened and the person inside fired one shotgun blast, striking the deputy. >> reporter: even as they struggled to rescue the dying deputy. >> w6 9's been shot and i cannot checker. >> reporter: negotiators tried to talk the suspect into surrendering. but instead what followed was a vicious fire fight. witnesses say the normally peaceful campground seemed like a war zone. >> guys are putting on flackñi jackets, automatic weapo and they were running blum was

wounded in the crossfire, he was listed in fair condition today it wasn't immediately clear if the gunman identified as michael ferryman was killed by police bullets or his own. the slain deputy was identify as 40-year-old suzanne hopper, the mother of two was an 11 year veteran of the clark county sheriff's department. >> it was sad. you could see it in everybody's eyes. the deputies came out, theñi officers came out. in other words, it was a tough moment for a lot of people. >> reporter: police say since they know what happened, the investigation will now focus on why it happened. a question that may never be g p gop-controlled house. bill plante has details. >> the president and members of the new republican majority in the house both have the same new year's resolution. >> do everything i can to

make sure our economy is growing, creating jobsñr, and strengthening our middle class. >> with the number one thing for all of us as republicans is jobs and the economy. >> reporter: but republicans want the white house to know there's a new sheriff in town with a new agenda. mike kelly is a new member from pennsylvania. >> i don't know how in the world you folk goes home and look these people in the eye and say we have done a great job. on the house republican agenda repeal or defunding of the new health care law. >> we said that we would bring up a vote to repeal health care early. that i1 happen before the president state of the union address. >> reporter: also large cuts in government spending. darrell issa will head the oversight committee. he said he can find billionsñi in waste. >> the sooner the administration figures out that the enemy is the bureaucracy and the wasteful spending, not the other party, the better off we'll be. >> reporter: an early fight in the new congress, raising the debt ceiling. failure to do so would shut down the government. but republicans say higher

spending can only come at a cost. >> i will not vote for the dpeá ceiling increase until i see a plan in place that will deal with with our long-term debt obligations starting with social security. >> reporter: even so says politickeau, the new republican majority may prove hard to control. >> this is the largest freshman class in a number of years. many-of-them were not chosen by party leadersñi soñi they really don't know the party leadership in congress anything. and when you have political free agent, it is always an unscripted, unexpected type situation. >> reporter: and another unexpected situation may be that president obama in these next two years leading up to his re-election campaign may find that to get anything done, he has to cooperate more with with the republicans in the house than the democrats in the senate. troy? >> bill plante in washington, thank you. >> for more on the prospects for political conflict within the republican house majority and within the states we're joined by our senior political correspondent jeff greenfeld, good evening.

i thought john boehner wou be sitting pretty at this point but he's facing daunting challenges. >> he is facing incoming fire from his own ardent supporters or at least the people who helped give him the speakership of the republican majority. some tea party folks, senator deminlt, one of the ardent republican conservatives in the senate have been critical about theñr lake duck session-- lame duck session. they want to draw a line in the sand and stop obama in his tracks. and for them the debt ceiling which john boehner says we have to vote to expand or the government defaults on its obligations, for them the debt sealing is a symbol boll of spending recklessness and he may face problems with members of the house getting them to vote to do what he feels has to be done. >> how do you appease the tea partiers, what do you do in. >> there will be symbolic votes to repeal obamacare, a lot of investigation focused on what they see as corruption in the obama administration but will still have this problem on policy from the right. >> democrats in new york and in california, mario cuomo

son, andrew, the new governor of new york and jerry brown who will be sworn in tomorrow as governor of california are facing some deep, deep problems. >> they are facing billions of dollars in debt. and that means taking on the public employee union, some of the biggest supporters financially and otherwise of the democratic party who helped put these people in power. both governors have said in so many words we cannot afford the pension and health-care costs that are bankrupting or close to bankrupting the states and causing souse spend less on things like education and roads. so for cuomo and brown, they like boehner, are going to have to deal with twhar own base in trying to make politics work next year. >> it is going to be an interesting year. >> i think we're going see a lot of stuff even before the presidential campaignñr starts. >> jeff, thank you very outgoing california governor arnold schwarzenegger. vi

>> three of the country's newly elected governors were sworn in yesterday. and more are due to be

inaugurated this week including california's jerry brown tomorrow. what can you expect to inherit from his predecessor arnold schwarzenegger. terryñi mccarthy takes a look. >> reporter: arnold schwarzenegger was used to playing action heroes strong arming his opponents. in 2003 with california in a budget crisis, the bodybuilder announced he wanted to muscle into the governor's office. >> and this is why i'm going to run for governor of the state of california. >> reporter: with a heavy dose of hollywood. >> hast a la vista, baby! >> he won easily promising to knock heads and crack down on government spending. >> i really like the enthusiasm, the different approach. >> reporter: in front of the cameras he mocked legislators. >> i call them girllymen. >> reporter: but behind the scenes he ran into unflinching opposition in the legislature to spending cuts and tax increases. schwarzenegger caved. >> he not only cut taxes but basically raised spending. and actually made the budget deficit worse. >> reporter: even with 'tis considerable celebrity power

schwarzenegger was not able to take on the fundamental contradiction of california whose residents all want to live the dream life without paying for it. but if he failed to control the budget, he did push through election reforms and limits on greenhouse gases. even former governor gray davis whom schwarzenegger replaced in 29003 elections concedes he had some success. >> he pushed for and got political reform that will make it possible for governor brown and ensuing governors to balance the state budget. >> reporter: schwarzenegger was forced to make unpopular cuts furloughing state workers and cutting school funding. his opponents say he was simply out of his leg. >> -- league. >> he really thought he could change things for the better. he was sincere about that but i don't think he had a clue. >> reporter: after seven years he has one the lowest popular iteratings of any governor of california. a ballooning deficit and the worst credit rating in the country for the state. for the action hero who

thought he could solve everything. >> everything is under control. >> reporter: california's politicians were opponents he just couldn't terminate. terri mccarthy, cbs news, los angeles. >> just ahead on tonight's "cbs evening news", the american spirit hard at work in a school far from home.

>> in afghanistan three nato service members have been killed already in the first two days of the new year. one soldiers was killed today by a road side bomb. two british soldiers were killed on new year's day. some afghan children and women are getting an opportunity to receive an education thanks to an american teacher who won't take no for an answer. as mandy clark reports tonight in our series "the american spirit" >> reporter: these afghan street children are so poor, they are forced to beg or work in markets to help support their families. enter anna hacker who at

47-- 67 is running a school she hopes will give these kids a shot at a better life. and she isn't letting anything stand in her way. >> i'm 67. i had a blood clot a year ago and am still coming back. >> reporter: she first came to afghanistan in 1973 as a teacher. 8-year-old icbal was one of her students. now 45, he is a businessman and says there is nothing he wouldn't do for his old teacher. >> she is an angel to everybody she sees. she touches them and she changes their life. >> so you can put your books, groceries-- . >> reporter: it's not just the lives of children she's changing. she set up literacy classes for widows. this is the greatest gift anyone can give me, she says. >> they have given me so much more than you can imagine. just coming and see them smiling. >> reporter: a new building is under construction for the children and widows. the founder has big plans for it. this will be more than just a school. there will be a playground, library and computer room

but there will also be doctors, counselers and social workers on-call. the goal is a community centre for those who need it most. everything that has gone into the school has been from charitable donations or from her own savings. she u the lookout for more donors. >> i have probably been shameless all my life. you know? and i will see you on a plane and say hey-- now we see the boys. >> reporter: anna says she's also shamelessly optimistic that through education, afghanistan will flourish once more. bye! >> mandy clark, cbs news, cabul. >> and we'll be back.

>> the u.s. navy is investigating lewd videos play add board the carrier enterprise by one of its top officers. in the videos made in 2006 and 2007 owen honors now the ship's commander uses profanity and gay slurs among other things. 2009's10.6 billion dollars. >> and in sports, if brett favre keeps his word to retire for good, the minnesota vikings quarterback ended his illustrious career today on the sidelines with a concussion. over 20 seasons favre set many passing records and was the league's mvp three times. >> it's been a wonderful

ride for me. i hope that people admired the way i played. my passion for it. because i hold no regrets. >> still ahead on tonight's "cbs evening news", a program for teens that takes the cake

>> finally tonight nearly 125,000 teenagers age out of the foster care system every year when they turn 18. that puts them at risk for unemployment and becoming homeless. michelle miller shows us a program that appears to have found the perfect recipe to help them. >> reporter: it must be bakery, there's more to the meal than the first course and a tasty dessert. this cafe serves up second chances. take 17-year-old katie. >> i started making bad choices like fighting, doing drugs. >> reporter: in less than a year she will no longer be eligible for foster care. working here at the bakery

apprentice, she's learning a trade and skill that should help her become self-sufficient. >> reporter: her teacher ellen roth a child welfare advocate turned paste trie chef. roth founded cakes for cause, the nonprofit that runs this bakery. here at risk teens learn to cook which in turn, she says, offers lessons on life. >> we need to teach our children how to be the adult that we want them to be. >> you're to the going too fasten them yet. >> the bakery has provided mentors and six months of job training to nearly a dozen apprentices, three have dropped out. but not 18-year-old dustin raymond. sent here by juvenile authorities. >> i could have been in jail for a pretty long time. >> instead dustin is living with his family, about to finish high school and earning his own money. >> it's a a real big sense of accomplishment. a big change from being where i was to actually working for what i want.

>> how's the food. >> with the food is great. >> the customers say they also like helping the kids. money from food sales supplements funding for the program. halfway through her apprenticeship katie started voicing her dreams to become a doctor. she has taken a second job and is focus on her future. >> there is a goal i need to get to. >> reporter: i want-- ellen has helped you get there. >> yes, she has. >> they start to understand that they are part of this community. and that there are caring, commit add dults that

elect jerry brown --on the eve of his inauguration. the changing of the guard in sacramento, the challenges and expectations for governor- elect jerry brown on the eve of his inauguration. new leadership in the east bay. jean quan outlines her priorities as the next mayor of oakland. it was a lot of waiting, a lot of waiting. >> taking the long way home, the tales of the holiday travelers. cbs5 eyewitness news is next. ,, ♪ i may be mud, but i have standards. mops? please. some of them have bacteria. ♪ and they try to pick me up? ew. i'm really hard to get. uh! ♪ what about love?! [ male announcer ] swiffer attracts dirt.