retail sales surge ahead of the holiday season. why some companies are offering cash bonuses and higher wages to get workers on the job. new safety requirement: after a six-year, cbs news investigation into car seat backs, a new law that could save children's lives. helicopter rescue: 10 people saved from floodwaters as a strong storm knocks out power across the pacific northwest. tiktok lawsuits: could you or your kids be entitled to some of the $92 million class action settlement? and the gift of music: a country star's remarkable act of kindness. this is the "cbs evening news" with norah o'donnell, reporting from the nation's capital. >> o'donnell: good evening to our viewers in the west, and thank you for joining us. we want to begin with an alarming spike in covid cases across america as we head into the holiday season. more than 150,000 new infections were reported on monday. that is the most in two months. cases are rising in nearly half the country, with the u.s. seeing a jump of more than 30% in the past week. the northeast and the midwest are leading the spike. public health officials are growing concerned about weakening immunity from that first round of covid vaccinations and they're looking to booster shots for added protection. there are now a growing number of cities and states getting ahead of federal officials and those have begun recommending boosters for all adults. and in another major development tonight, americans infected with covid could soon treat themselves at home with an experimental pill from pfizer. cbs' nikki battiste is going to lead off our coverage tonight from new york city. good evening, nikki. >> reporter: norah, good evening. pfizer asked the f.d.a. today to authorize its pill, currently intended to treat unvaccinated people with covid-19 who are high risk. the drug is meant to be distributed at pharmacies and taken at home over five days. pfizer says its antiviral pill would treat mild to moderate covid in patients with increased risk of hospitalization or death if given within three days of symptoms. it was shown to reduce severe outcomes by 89%. as cases rise in just under half the country, some states aren't waiting for the federal government to expand access to booster shots for all adults. at least seven are doing it on their own. >> the booster is part of what the original regimen should be. >> current federal >> reporter: current federal guidance recommends boosters only for those 65 and older, or people at high risk, six months after pfizer or moderna vaccination. so far, just over 16% of adults have gotten a booster. >> so the states are jumping the gun somewhat. we've collected new data now showing the importance of third immunization and the states are able to be a little bit more nimble and move faster. >> reporter: cases are rising in more than 20 states, and pediatric cases are up 22% compared to two weeks ago. >> if we go into the winter at 70,000 cases per day, you're going to start seeing breakthrough infections even more so than we see now among the vaccinated. >> reporter: that's what happened at the geer nursing and rehabilitation center in connecticut, where a covid outbreak led to eight deaths. 89 residents and staff were infected, and all but two were vaccinated. still, there's some push-back against vaccine requirements. south carolina and 11 other states are suing to block the biden administration from implementing a federal vaccine mandate for healthcare workers, calling it unlawful. pfizer's booster for all adults could be available as early as this weekend, making tens of millions more americans eligible for an additional shot. norah. >> o'donnell: that is some big news. all right, nikki battiste, thank you. tonight, hundreds of national guard troops are standing by in kenosha, wisconsin, as the city awaits the verdict in the kyle rittenhouse trial. the 18-year-old could get up to life in prison if found guilty of intentional homicide in the fatal shooting of two men at a violent protest in the summer of 2020. a third man was wounded. here's cbs' nancy chen, who has covered the trial since the beginning. >> reporter: an unusual process: kyle rittenhouse himself randomly selected the jury of seven women and five men, all white, except for one person, who will now decide whether the 18-year-old could spend the rest of his life in prison. >> folks, you can retire to consider your verdicts. >> reporter: rittenhouse is facing five felony charges for killing two men and seriously wounding another. >> no justice! >> no peace! >> reporter: outside the courthouse, tensions are starting to grow as protesters and supporters wait for the jury's verdict. 500 national guard troops are standing by outside kenosha in case there's unrest. over eight days of testimony, prosecutors tried to portray rittenhouse as an instigator, with an ar-15-style weapon who was looking for trouble. his defense argued rittenhouse went to provide medical help in a town where his father lived, and ultimately had to defend himself. >> the prosecution in its closing argument was very strong on the issue of provocation. because if kyle rittenhouse is the initial aggressor, he loses the privilege of self-defense. >> reporter: and tonight, more than eight hours after deliberations began, the judge sent the jury home until tomorrow. the governor of wisconsin is calling for peace in kenosha and throughout the state, regardless of the outcome of the case. norah. >> o'donnell: nancy chen, thank you.u let's turn now to brunswick, georgia, where tomorrow the defense will begin presenting its case in the trial of three e accud of chasing down and murdering ahmaud arbery. the prosecution rested today after a medical examiner showed graphic autopsy photos of arbery's wounds from shotgun blasts. his mother covered her eyes and walked out of the courtroom. the m.e. said of the three shots fired, two struck arbery, and the first to his chest was the fatal blow. he added, arbery's wounds were so severe, nothing could have been done to save his life. all right, president biden met face to face, well, virtually, with the chinese president for the first time last night. but there's new concern at the pentagon about china's military build-up, including development of a hypersonic missile. here's cbs' david martin with an interview you'll see only on cbs news. >> reporter: the virtual summit had one clear purpose... >> our responsibility as leaders of china and the united states is to ensure that the competition between our countries does not veer into conflict. >> reporter: one potential flashpoint is the island of taiwan, which china claims as its own. according to chinese states media, president xi warned president biden u.s. support for taiwan would be "like playing with fire." behind the rhetoric is a chinese military build-up which includes hypersonic weapons that can travel more than five times the speed of sound. they tested one last summer that literally went around the world. >> that's a very significant capability that has the potential to change a lot of things. so we have to be very concerned about that. >> reporter: vice chairman of the joint chiefs, general john the joint chiefs, general john hyten, the number two pers hyten, the number two person in the u.s. military, described the test in an exclusive interview with cbs news. >> they launched a long-range missile that went around the world, dropped off a hypersonic glide vehicle that glided all the way back to china. that impacted the target in china. >> reporter: it hit the target. >> close enough. >> reporter: unlike a ballistic missile, which travels in a predictable arc, a hypersonic weapon maneuvers much closer to the earth, making it harder for radars to see. combined with hundreds of newmb missile silos china is building, hyten believes the chinese are developing the capability to launch a surprise nuclear attack on the u.s. >> why are they building all of this capability? they look like a first-use weapon. that's what those weapons look like to me. >> reporter: the u.s. is developing its own hypersonic weapons, but not as rapidly. hyten said in the last five years, china has carried out hundreds of hypersonic tests, while the u.s. has conducted just nine. norah. >> o'donnell: a very enlightening interview. david martin thank you. well tonight, much of the pacific northwest is dealing with mudslides. the coast guard rescued three people from floodwaters in forks, washington. across the state, tens of thousands are without power and a stretch of interstate 5 remains closed.ho across the border, the same storm is pounding british columbia, where a woman died in a mudslide, the first confirmed death from the storm. all right, there is some encouraging economic news tonight. retail sales surged by nearly 2% in october. that's actually the biggest gain since march, when many americans and american families got those stimulus checks. economists expect that the buying surge will continue through the holidays, but many retailers are struggling to fill more than a million holiday job openings. we get more on this from cbs' meg oliver. >> reporter: eve golden can't find any full-time workers to staff her new jersey boutique. she has to close every day for half an hour to pick up her daughter from school. >> i post on social media, ask friends of friends, and it just seems like no one is available to work right now. >> reporter: she gets by with two high school students who can only work in the afternoon. >> i could use one to two more people, for sure. >> reporter: and how long have you been looking for extra help? >> a few months. >> reporter: with the holidaysos nearing nearing, it's not just mom and pops that are looking for a helping hand. nationwide, companies could fill more than 600,000 seasonal jobs. amazon is looking for 150,000 new employees. kohls needs 90,000, and u.p.s. needs to hire 100,000 workers to keep up with increased demand. >> we have a new process. apply, and if you have a clean work record, you can get a job offer in 30 minutes or less. >> reporter: why the 30-minute process? >> we want to give an opportunity to people who want>> to work immediately to get that position. >> reporter: after not working for three months, tito angelo was lured to this nordstrom job fair by a $250 cash bonus. he was hired on the spot. >> ultimately, it was worth it, because i walked out with a job. >> reporter: large companies looking to entice seasonalto ent workers are doing what they can to bring in applicants. amazon, walmart, and macy's are among many offering unprecedented wages and signing bonuses, healthcare benefits and even tuition reimbursement. small businesses like golden's can't compete. >> we're not, like, a multi-t c. >> we're not, like, million-dollar company. we're successful, but we are a mom and pop shop at the end of the day. >> reporter: from small mom and pops to big-box stores, all of this could translate into longer lines and higher prices for consumers. here at walmart, they're here at walmart, they're offering new employees as much as $17 an hour to start, and free college tuition. norah. >> o'donnell: that's quite an incentive. all right, meg oliver, thank you. president biden hit the road today, touting the benefits of his trillion-dollar infrastructure bill in new hampshire. n cbs' kris van cleave looks at one provision in that plan that came about as the result of a cbs news investigation into car seat-back safety. >> reporter: 11 years ago this week, andy and liz warner lost their 16-month-old daughter, tailor, when their minivan was rear-ended. andy was driving, his seator, wi collapsed backwards, striking taylor. >> i don't want her to die in vain. >> reporter: since 2015, cbs news has identified dozens of families whose children weres injured or killed in similar seat-back crashes. >> every time i see a child behind the driver, my heart breaks for them, because you e don't know. >> reporter: crash tests show when hit from behind, front seats can fail and collapse backwards, potentially launching occupants into the back seat, where regulators tell parents to put their children. but all the seats meet or exceed the 54-year-old federal strength standard. car makers and regulators have long known it's an issue. the national highway traffic safety administration's own researchers warn about the potential for major injury or death in the early 1990s. >> cbs shined the spotlight on this issue. >> reporter: senator ed markey wrote the measure requiring rules for stronger seats within two years, pending the approval of the secretary of transportation. >> i am now going to apply the most pressure that is politically possible on n.h.t.s.a. to act and to act quickly. >> reporter: for the warners, it's a moment of peace amid their heartbreak. >> there's hope in her loss instead of just sitting at the cemetery and asking why did this happen?y why did this change our lives forever?r lives forever? >> it m >> it makes her a hero. and it makes me proud to be her dad, because she's making dad, because she's maki change. >> reporter: the nation's auto safety regulator says it will work to meet its congressional mandates and will be watching to make sure it does. safety experts say consider putting your child behind the passenger seat if it's empty. norah. >> o'donnell: we're thinking of the warners and, kris, thanks to you and the entire team for staying on this story. appeciate it. >> reporter: thank you. >> o'donnell: well, we turn now to the escalating migrant crisis in eastern europe. refugees, many from the middle east, are now at the border of belarus, trying to reach the west through poland. cbs' charlie d'agata is near that border tonight, where the tensions are rising. >> reporter: today, the volatile situation at the border went to the next level. polish riot police fired tear gas and unleashed water cannon on migrants after they were pelted with stones, showering refugees already suffering in subfreezing temperatures. >> if you don't follow the orders, force will be used against you. >> reporter: the clashes erupted after hundreds of migrants surged from a makeshift camp in belarus toward the final fences separating the two countries. some have made a break for it under the cover of darkness, hoping to be discovered by aid agencies instead of soldiers who will escort them right back to belarus. >> people are dying in the forest. there are 12 people already dead, and i know that there will be more. >> reporter: anna alboth has helped refugees all over the world. now the crisis is in her own country. >> some of them didn't eat for four, five days. many of them didn't drink for a long time. i have never seen people in such a state. i have never seen as hungry people as here. >> reporter: belarusian dictator alexander lukashenko has been accused of luring thousands of middle east migrants to belarus on the promise of an easy entry to the european union via the polish border. they fled a war zone, only to find themselves on another front line in a geopolitical battle with no way forward and no way back. we're at a roadblock about a mile from the border. we've been driving for hours, and it's the same scene no matter where you go. migrants aren't allowed to cross the border. journalists and aide agencies can't get to the border. and there's no sign this situation is going to improve any time soon. norah. >> o'donnell: charlie d'agata, thank you very much.ar all right, still ahead here on tonight's "cbs evening news," a fast-moving wildfire forces families from their homes. and why some tiktok users could be entitled to millions of dollars. at any given time. i absolutely have to be sharp. let me tell ya, i was struggling with my memory. it was going downhill. my friend recommended that i try prevagen and over time, it made a very significant difference in my 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