this is the cbs evening news with katie couric. couric: good evening, everyone. nearly ten years ago, the president of the united states stood here in the rubble of the world trade center and vowed to bring those behind the 9/11 attacks to justice. and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon. ( cheers and applause). couric: now with osama bin laden dead and buried, another president came here to today, as if to tell the nearly 3,000 who died here we kept that promise. president obama placed a wreath near where the twin towers once stood to honor the victims and did his best to comfort their families. in a show of unity, the president invited former new york city mayor rudy giuliani a republican to join him as he paid his respects to firefighters who lost more than 300 brothers on 9/11. and former defense secretary donald rumsfeld, who helped rescue victims at the pentagon, joined vice president joe biden at a memorial service there. a
me to kind of get my mind around. reporter: and she also sent him this hat. a parting gift of lasting love that this brother will treasure for a lifetime. and it just kind of confirmed that she was thinking about me and that she really cared. not that i had any question in that. reporter: hugh says he hopes to keep his sister s memory alive through a foundation in her name that will one day award scholarships to people who share her same interests and zest for life. anita. what an interview, lesli. i know hugh wanted to focus on her life in this discussion you had but did he talk about the indictment of her alleged killer? reporter: he did. hugh said he learned about the official indictment of britney norwood yesterday and he told me he is hopeful she will either plead guilty or be found guilty and that sentencing will come soon . i will have more of my interview with hugh murray coming up tonight at 11 p.m. for now back to you anita. lesli, thank you for that.
donor easy. now the court can change the law and make it easier for the 8 year old and thousands like him. i m dana king, good evening. an eerie resemblance to what we saw after hurricane katrina. an army of tornadoes raised entire communities in six states across the south. 291 people tonight are dead. more than two thirds of the casualties are in alabama. and that s where we go tonight. reporter: and, dana, the president is expected to come here to alabama today or later on on friday to survey all of the damage but earlier on thursday many of the residents who were victimized by all of this walked around through debris filled fields like this and they couldn t believe what they saw. everything gone. reporter: you can hear the dispair and disbelief in her voice. i ain t never seen anything like this in my life. reporter: birmingham section virtually wiped out and they look at the house they moved into just two months ago. willie was at home when the twister struc
enough, heavy equipment was brought in. they will take off the top layer of rubble and then search by hand again. but for every story of loss there is another of survival. thomas two daughters were in this house when the twister hit. it took her hours to dig them out. thank god my family is okay. but now like thousands of others, thomas is trying to figure out what to do next after losing everything. reporter: moments ago we were given this flyer by three women who were looking for their mom. her house is that pile of rubble that you see back there. her car was located across the street completely smashed up. they are hoping she is alive but frankly seeing that things aren t looking very good. sorry, live in birmingham. let s go back to you, lesli and anita. thank you. after touring the devestation in alabama, president obama traveled to kennedy space center but the second to last shuttle loss he was supposed to witness did not happen. captain mark kelly is the comma
stats during the last two years homicides have gone down by half. i think it is fabulous. i mean, but then there is a little bit of disappointment because i want him to say. reporter: michele walker says the lower crime rate is a direct result of his work with the community. those partnerships are encouraging merchants and residents and other stakeholders to get more involved in their own safety. reporter: at the willie mays girls and boys club he has been very actively involved even personally helping about a dozen young people get jobs last summer. he has been very instrumental in the presence of the police up here on the hill and providing a sense of security for the families. reporter: but many here point out crime is not reduced by a police force alone. there has been a lot of community engagement. some say throwing young people in jail is not their long-term solution. he was very negative to this community. why do you say that? because it is true. he g