Pelley good evening. We saw something today we havent seen since the dependents of the great recession. The price of oil fell below 50 a barrel. It ended the day at 50. 04, the lowest close since spring of 2009. Have a look at this. Just since june of last year, the price of oil has dropped by more than half. No one knows when the slide will end. On wall street, the dow fell more than 300 points. The s p nearly 38. In beth cases a loss of nearly 2 . Elaine quijano is looking into why investors are worried. Reporter today marked the worst drop in the dow and s p since october. Analysts and traders say there was no one particular reason, but the continued freefall in oil prices played a major role. Bill stone is chief investment strategist for pnc wealth management. Why are the markets tanking . Oil did breech a kind of psychological barrier going below 50 a barrel. When you see oil fall that much, historically that has been associated with a significant economic downturn. The difference is really this time that you have a much bigger supply coming out of the united states. Weve become the biggest producer of oil in the world. Reporter traders pulled out of energyrelated stocks today but seemed to be searching for the right investments to take their place. While Lower Oil Prices have been good for American Consumers with cheaper gas putting an additional 14 billion back into their pockets in 2014, its upsetling for investors. What will Lower Oil Prices mean in the long run . The worry is theres something out there that all of us are missing, is it a larger slowdown in the Global Economy or will there be maybe some cracks uncovered that different Financial Institutions will be too will levered but the net if you just look at the economy it is no doubt a positive. Reporter some of those Global Concerns surfaced today when greece raised the possibility again of pulling out of the Economic Union that makes up the euro zone, which could destabilize international markets. Scott . Pelley well, elaine, investors may be worried but most americans are laughing all the way to the tank. Gasoline is selling tonight for an average of 2. 20 a gallon, down 1. 12 from a year ago. Falling gas prices are shifting car sales into high gear. Chrysler and gm posted doubledigit gains last month and some analysts think 2015 will be the best year for cars in a decade. And heating oil is selling for about 3 a gallon, 1 less than a year ago. And the timing couldnt be better because much of the country is bundling up against the first big cold spell of the year. It was ice cold today along the Lake Clarke Shores of lake michigan. The mercury fell below zero across the Northern Tier of the united states. It is in Single Digits right now in chicago where we find dean reynolds. Reporter it is so cold in chicago now that workers are heating railroad switches with open flames to keep them from freezing solid. Is there a risk of derailment if you dont do this . Yes. If the switch does not engage properly, the train could derail. Reporter meg Thomas Reilly works for metra, the Commuter Rail link that provides just over 300,000 rides in chicago every day. If we have a major switch fail at the start of the evening rush, it doesnt just affect that train it can affect 20 to 30 trains behind it. Reporter like this one coming here. Right. Reporter facing a windchill of 30 below at 7 00 a. M. , minneapolis children were dressed more for polar expeditions than bus rides to school. Along Lake Superior at duluth, the actual temperature was minus 18. To the west in Washington State persistent rain caused a hillside to give way shoving a house right off its foundation. But snow is the story in many areas, already on the ground and many more on the way. Thats why in chicago salt trucks were loading up and heading out. Now the snow is expected to start some time later tonight and accumulations could reach up to half a foot in some places, but, scott the really bad news is that while its all of 6 degrees here in chicago now its going to get even colder on wednesday. Pelley dean, thanks. Eric fisher is the chief meteorologist at our cbs station wbz in boston. Eric whats coming up next . Reporter well, scott, good evening. Weve seen a lot of cold air across the plains and the rockies, but the midwest and east coast havent seen a lot of these big arctic outbreaks. We knew that would change eventually. As we hid toward the midweek, that cold dipping all the way down to the gulf coast and the coldest air weve seen this winter season since last winter, and we remember that one. By wednesday high temperatures mainly in the Single Digits across the great lakes and the midwest. That colder air dipping down into the south and northeast cities into the 20s. By thursday morn, the coldest morning were expecting, Single Digits and teens across the south, many going subzero in the northern states. All this being ushered in by a band of snow moving down across the ohio valley as we head into this evening, across illinois, indiana and ohio. Could see snow here. Cold is sticking around through the upcoming weekend. Pelley eric fisher at the great wwz. Eric, thank you very much. In another major story tonight the Boston Marathon bombing trial began today with jury selection. Dzhokhar tsarnaev, the surviving suspect, is accused of murdering three and wounding hundreds. Hes also charged with the murder of a police officer. Tsarnaev could face the Death Penalty and don dahler is at the courthouse. Reporter with shaggy hair and sporting a scruffy beard tsarnaev sat with his lawyers before a group of perspective jurors as jung George Otoole outlined what would happen next. First all 1,200 potential jurors, an unusually large pool, will fill out an extensive questionnaire and face a Selection Process that will take weeks. The challenge for federal prosecutors is to seat a jury willing to consider the Death Penalty if tsarnaev is convicted. Massachusetts does not have capital punishment. In a poll conducted by the boston globe in september of 2013, only onethird supported tsarnaev getting the Death Penalty. Cbs news legal analyst and former prosecutor rikki klieman. One thing that will happen in this jury Selection Process is that you have to do what the lawyers call death qualify a jury, and what that means is even if you are against the Death Penalty but you say this, you know, i can follow the law. Reporter the 21yearold is being held in total isolation in a federal hospital prison. Hes fed through a slit in his door, has limited access to news and mail, and visits by family members are monitored by the f. B. I. His attorneys are considered the antiDeath Penalty dream team, having saved the lives of the unabomber, ted kaczynski, the olympic bomber, eric rudolph and jared loughner, the man who shot congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and killed six others. Bombing victim heather abbott, who is still recovering after losing a leg plans on attending whenever she can. Im certain it will bring up a lot of what happened. Obviously two years ago and a lot of emotion, so it will be nice to have it over. Reporter with Opening Statements not expected until next month scott the entire trial may well last until the second anniversary of the bombings, next april. Pelley don dahler in boston tonight. Thank you, don. We learned today about amazing weather that enveloped the airasia jetliner that crashed a week ago. 162 people died when the airbus a320 plunged into the java sea. We were so surprised by the temperature that authorities reported today that we asked our Research Department to double check to make sure it was right. Allen pizzey is covering the crash in indonesia. Reporter 23yearold pendra gunawan syawal took what may have been the last photograph of flight 8501 before it took off. Less than an hour later the plane disappeared. Even as the search continues indonesian authorities have concluded that weather caused the crash. A satellite image showed cloud temperatures as cold as 121 degrees below zero. Three days after the crash the indonesian aviation authorities imposed mandatory uptodate weather briefings for pilot but in an open letter, one pile dismissed the directive. Pilots of airlines around the world do selfbriefings, he wrote. They get printed Weather Information from systems used by their airlines. Today was the best weather the searchers have had since the plane went down. Ships using sonar scoured the area where five large pieces of wreckage were detected over the weekend. Family whose loved ones have been identified gathered in a designated mourning area to accept condolences. Some are offered in the form of specially painted and highly decorated signs. This one is for tenyearold stevie gunawan. She was identified by the minnie mouse tshirt she was wearing. The hope is that investigators can find the black boxes. Only then will authorities be able to determine whether icing from storm clouds trig tertd crash. Scott . Pelley allen pizzey, thank you. Weve all been talking in the newsroom today about the little girl who survived a plane crash in kentucky on friday. Adriana diaz has her remarkable story. Reporter when the piper twin engine plane crashed in the dense kentucky woods it was upside down, on fire and severyearold sailor gutzler was the only person aboard still alive. According to investigators, she was sitting in one of the rear seats and climbed out through a 12inch hole. Kentucky state Police Lieutenant brent white was one of the first at the scene. She knew the aircraft was in trouble. She knew her father was having difficulty, from our understanding, with maintaining altitude with the aircraft. Reporter when you saw that wreckage, could you imagine anyone walking away alive . No. Reporter in nearfreezing temperatures, she walked threequarters of a mile wearing shorts, a tshirt and one sock. She made her way through fallen trees and thorny bushes for 30 minutes until she saw this porch light. 71yearold Larry Wilkins answered the door. Ive seen a bloody little girl with tears in her eyes, her lips trembling. She told me her parents were dead, and i asked her how she knew that, and she said she tried to wake them up. And they wouldnt wake up. Bravest kid i ever seen in my life. Sailors father, 48yearold Marty Gutzler her 46yearold mother kimberly, her nineyearold sister piper and 14yearold cousin sierra wilder all died. Sailor, who is now with relatives, told police after the crash she hoped her family was just sleeping. You see a lot of things in 20 years of Law Enforcement but ive never seen anything like this. She was the one that gave everybody hope. Reporter crash investigators say sailors account of what happened when could be key in determining the cause of the crash. They plan to talk to her in the coming day scott. Meanwhile, funerals of her family members will be held here in the nashville, illinois, area later this week. Adriana, thank you. The flu outbreak is spreading to more states. Even nurses are getting sick now. And why would a crew deliberately run a Cargo Ship Aground . Well show you when the cbs evening news continues. Ive always loved exploring and looking for something better. Thats the way i look at life. Especially now that i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib a type of irregular heartbeat, not caused by a heart valve problem. I was taking warfarin, but wondered if i kept digging could i come up with something better. My doctor told me about eliquis. For three Important Reasons. One, in a clinical trial, eliquis was proven to reduce the risk of stroke better than warfarin. Two, eliquis had less major bleeding than warfarin. And three, unlike warfarin theres no routine blood testing. Dont stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke. Eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. Dont take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. While taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily and it may take longer than usual for any bleeding to stop. Seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding like unusual bruising. Eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. Tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. Those three Important Reasons are why eliquis is a better find for me. Ask your doctor today if eliquis is right for you. Pelley the flu is spreading. At least 21 children have died from it this season, and theres concern that cases will spike as students return to school after the holidays. Dr. Jon lapook is following this. At the st. Josephs Regional Medical center in paterson, new jersey, the flu season is in full swing. Today that included one of the hospitals pediatric nurses, michelle sabotino. I have upstairs sick kids with fever and cough and coughing and, you know, so im bound to get something. New jersey is one of 29 states reporting high flew activity. Most of this years flu is the h3n2 strain of influenza a. Sinetists discovered the strain had mutated soon after production of this areas flu vaccine began so the vaccine may not be as effective as in previous years. Dr. Joseph bresee is with the c. D. C. We do know that in years in which this virus circulates or this type of virus circulates, we do get more deaths on average than the usual year, but how this year will go ultimately over next weeks and months is hard to tell now. Reporter iyue sung is director of research at Athena Health an electronic records company. He tracks flu trends for 20,000 primary care doctors. We saw a sharp increase starting in the south and the midwest and then over the last several weeks move over to the northeast. It looks like its migrating over to the west now. Reporter some data from past flu seasons show the flu can appear to slow down and then surge again. Across different regions of the country weve seen double peaks. First peak appears to have occurred. We anticipate another peak across the country, as well. Reporter this flu season has the double whammy of an especially nasty strain of virus and a vaccine that will likely not be as effective as usual but the c. D. C. Is still urging vaccination because it does offer some protection and may help prevent complications. Pelley the vaccine is better than nothing. Jon, thanks very much. One of the bestknown misamericas of all time has died. Her story is coming up. [cheering] everything okay . Were here because youre about to have a heart attack. Petes 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 you begin an aspirin regimen. [ man ] i remember when i wouldnt give a little cut a second thought. When i didnt worry about the hepatitis c in my blood. When i didnt think twice about where i left my razor. [ male announcer ] hep c is a serious disease. Take action now. Go to hepc. Com or call 1844444hepc to find out how you and your doctor can take the next step towards a cure. Because the answers you need may be closer than they appear. Pelley two prospects for the u. S. Ski team were killed today in an avalanche in the austrian alps. 20yearold Ronnie Berlack and 19yearold bryce astle were in a group that went off trail and in fact, may have set off the avalanche that killed them. Four others escaped. Todays salvage experts inspected a cargo ship which ran aground off the chest of england. It began listing on saturday and the crew grounded it so it would not sink. On board are 1,400 luxury cars. Righting the ship is expected to take many days. We learned today that Bess Meyerson has died. She first came to fame in 1945 when she was chosen the first and only jewish miss america. That led her to television. She was a panelist on ive got a secret. She also served in a number of posts in new york City Government and made an unsuccessful run for senator. Bess meyerson was 90. The lies Edward Vernon told sent an innocent man to prison for four decades. Now theyre about to meet. Thats next. A good deal and sheesh, i wish id looked some more. Thats why walgreens makes it easy to switch your prescriptions and save money. Just stop by. And leave all the legwork to us. 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. Okay, listen up im reworkin the menu. Mayo . Corn dogs . You are so outta here aah [ female announcer ] the complete balanced nutrition of greattasting ensure. 24 vitamins and Minerals Antioxidants and 9 grams of protein. [ bottle ] ensure®. Nutrition in charge™. Shes still the one for you. And cialis for daily use helps you be Ready Anytime the moment is right. Cialis is also the only daily ed tablet approved to treat symptoms of bph like needing to go frequently. Tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. Do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. Do not drink alcohol in excess. Side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. To avoid long term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. If you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision or any allergic reactions like rash, hives swelling of the lips tongue or throat or difficulty breathing or swallowing, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. Ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a free 30tablet trial. I have a cold with terrible chest congestion. Better take something. Theraflu severe cold doesnt treat chest congestion. Really . New alkaseltzer plus day powder rushes relief to your worst cold symptoms plus chest congestion. Oh, what a relief it is. Here we go pelley the 408 day the Holiday Season was about hope and redemption. We end tonight with a man who survived on hope as he served 39 years for a crime he didnt commit. He was released a few weeks ago but he wasnt fully free. There was something he had to do, which led him to man in search of redemption. Vicente arenas has our story. This is where it all started. Right here. The store used to be right here. Reporter 39 years ago on this Street Corner a must be order salesman was robbed and shot to death as he left this Neighborhood Store in cleveland. Five days later the police had three suspects in custody. One of them was 18yearold Rickey Jackson the alleged trig mearn. I can remember that day vividly because that was the last day that i felt like i was really alive. Reporter in 1975, jackson and two friends were sentenced to death. We were innocent. And they were about to murder us for something we didnt do. Reporter no physical evidence linked the men to the crime, but the police had an eyewitness, a 12yearold boy named Edward Vernon. Young vernon testified under oath that he saw jackson pull the trigger even though he was several blocks away on the school bus when shots rang out. They knew i didnt see anything. Everybody knew that it was a lie. Reporter now 52, vernon spoke to us on camera for the first time with his pastor at his side. All these years ive been holding this shame and guilt inside, you know, wanting to release it, wanting to come forward and do the right thing. Reporter vernon says he fingered jackson because he knew him from the neighborhood and was eager to help police, but after he failed to identify jackson in a lineup, he says the officer began the feed him information, the number of assailants, the weapon used, the make and model of the getaway car. But youre saying you saw none of this. Right. Thats right. Reporter they were telling you what to say . Yes yes. Reporter it was young vernons testimony that put jackson on death row. I could halfway accept my punishment if i was guilty, but. Reporter vernon eventually confided in his pastor, anthony singleton. I said, ill be with you. Ill support you. He just burst out crying. Its like something just came out of him. Reporter the ohio Innocence Project asked for a new trial. Vernon took the stand in the cleveland courtroom, and this time he told the truth. Its been seven weeks since jackson, now 57, walked out of court a free man after his murder conviction was overturned. He spent all of his adult life behind bars. This is my living room, dining room bedroom. Reporter today jacksons reclaiming his life, studying for his drivers test, signing up for a library card. But there was Something Else he needed to do. Finalliment. Come here, man. Reporter forgive the man who put him behind bars. It took a lot of courage to do what you did. Thank you man. Im sorry. I know. We were both victims. Its all right. I do forgive you. I wanted to be here personally to tell you that. Wow. How could this man hug and embrace me after all these years . I didnt always feel this way about edward. For a lot of years i really hated him for what he did for us. But i knew i had to do this because i desperately want to move forward with my life, and the only way i can do that is to forgive him. Reporter two men imprisoned by a lie set free by the truth. Vicente arenas, cbs news, cleveland, ohio. Pelley and thats the cbs evening news for tonight. For all of us at cbs news all around the world, good night. Captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org when you dont get enough sleep. And your body aches. Youre not yourself. Tylenol ® pm relieves pain and helps you fall fast asleep and stay asleep. We give you a better night. Youre a better you all day. Tylenol® our weekend with brad pitt and reese witherspoon. Awards season is officially on. Oyelowo that serenade of your name was wonderful. That was pretty amazing. Well show you brads singalong for a selma star and reeses huge honor. If you want to get something done, ask a mom to do it. Mary hart was backstage at palm spring, and she talked to everybody and is here tonight to break it down. Including how stars were campaigning for oscar. Trolling for oscar but come on. Plus cameron diaz had her wedding today. And a celebrity got into a bad car crash. Well tell what you happened to his wife and young son. Then we remember my friend espns stuart scott and his brave cancer