american hostages: three more christian missionaries released in haiti, tonight the latest on their condition. boycotting china: the big announcement from the white house about the winter olympics, what it means for u.s. athletes. plus biden prepares for a crucial meeting with russian president vladimir putin. jussie smollett testifies: what the actor, accused of staging a racist attack on himself, said on the stand. a final salute to bob dole, flags at half staff tonight asaf we look back on the life and legacy of an american hero. and, a time-honored tradition, the kennedy center honors here in the nation's capitol. ♪ (stevie wonder playing superstition) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ very superstitious ♪ writing's on the wall ♪ ♪ ♪ 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 so much for joining us. we begin with an alarming surge in covid infections in the u.s. for the first time in two months the country is averaging more than 100,000 new cases per day. more than 1100 are dying each day from covid and 50,000 are being treated in hospitals, while the delta variant remains the dominant strain of the coronavirus, the new omicron variant is also spreading rapidly. cases have now been detected in at least 18 states but scientists still aren't sure if it is more dangerous than previous variants, and scientists in south africa where omicron was first detected say symptoms in most cases have been mild. well, the mayor of new york city today announced one of the nation's toughest covid vaccination mandates in the country, forcing all private businesses to require workers to get their shots by december 27th, three weeks from now.er cbs' nikki battiste is going to lead off our coverage in new york with the details. good evening, nikki. >> reporter: good evening. new york is now believed to be the first city to require vaccines for all workers and now children here as young as 5 must be vaccinated before any indoor dining or entertainment. vaccine the new york mayor today called his mandate requiring all private workers be fully vaccinated a preemptive strike against the cold weather and the few omicron variant. >> look, this is how we put health and safety first, by ensuring that there is a vaccine mandate that reaches everyone universally in the private sector. >> reporter: the mandate will affect 184,000 businesses but not apply to people working from home and there will be no testing alternative. early data shows the new omicron variant produces mild symptoms at worst. in fact, it is believed to be the delta variant driving a new wave of cases across the u.s., averaging more than one hundred thousand a day, with an increase in hospitalizations as well. with much about omicron still unknown, dr. anthony fauci urged americans not to get complacent. >> we've really got to be careful before we make any determinations that it is less severe or really doesn't cause any severe illness comparable to delta. >> reporter: the new variant has now been detected in at least 18 states including louisiana where 17 new covid cases were discovered on a norwegian cruise line ship that just returned to port sunday. all crew were required to have vaccinated. a south african crew member was thought to have the omicron variant. is there any data to show how effective our current vaccines are when it comes to omicron. >> all vaccines have shown some degree of cross protection in terms of virus neutralizing antibodies so i suspect the same will be true of omicron. >> reporter: dr. peter hotez says vaccination remains the best protection. >> if you haven't gotten vaccinated yet you're playing with fire. >> reporter: dr. hotez says a real concern with omicron is re-infection especially for anyone who is unvaccinated. here in new york city, more than 10% of eligible adults have not gotten a vaccine yet. norah. >> o'donnell: nikki battiste, thank you. turning to the deadly school shooting in oxford, michigan where there are new questions tonight about whether warningor signs were ignored. the parents of the accused gunman are now in custody and tonight we're learning more about the tense manhunt that led to their arrests. we get the latest from cbs' michael george. >> do either of you have anyme questions or concerns... >> reporter: held in separate cells james and jennifer crumbley are now in the same county jail as their 15-year-old son ethan crumbley, the alleged shooter at oxford high school. the couple was expected to appear for an arraignment friday, they were arrested early saturday inside a vacant art studio in detroit after a manhunt. today the owner of the studio was interviewed by investigators. his attorney says he was unaware at the time the crumbleys were wanted and confirmed his house is being searched. >> how are you pleading to count one? >> not guilty. >> reporter: pleading not guilty to involuntary manslaughter in connection with the shooting. prosecutors say they provided a gun to their kid and failed to secure it. over the weekend, counselors said ethan crumbley did not intend self-harm or harm to others, despite teachers warning twice about disturbing behavior, including a violent drawing found on the morning of the shooting. michigan's attorney general dana nessel offered to conduct an independent investigation.an is it possible the action by school officials could lead to criminal charges? >> i don't know what that information is and i think it would be wrong for me to make any assumptions. but that's why i think it's so critical that this investigation be done. >> reporter: as the community continues to grieve, scott taylor, co-owner of sick pizza in oxford offered pizzas for donations. >> we're at $53,000. >> reporter: dozens of volunteers, many of them oxford students, helped raise more than $80,000. >> so many people want to help the kids stop hurting and the teachers stop hurting and the communities to stop hurting andn there's not always an outlet to do that. >> reporter: taylor says 100% of the donations are going to the victims' families. the funeral for one of the four students killed is tomorrow. >> o'donnell: michael george thank you. tonight three more christian missionaries have been released from captivity in haiti after being held hostage by a violent gang. they were part of a group leaving an orphanage seven weeks ago. we get more form cbs' manuel bojorquez. >> reporter: tonight the news three more hostages were freed comes seven weeks after being taken. >> we can confirm three were released. this is something we treat with the utmost priority. >> reporter: in a statement christian aid ministries says they are safe and seem to be in good spirits but provided no additional information. two others released last month leaving 12 still captive, including 16 americans including five children and one canadian. a gang known as 400 mawozo demanded a ransom and said the hostages would be killed if it wasn't met. what kind of information are you wanting to learn from the freed hostages? >> you want to know who, how many, what they looked like, the most seemingly innocuous piece of information can be the margin of victory. >> reporter: james gagliano is a former f.b.i. negotiator. what do the small releases and the length of time tell you about the negotiations here. >> it could be a whole host of factors. it could be the medical condition of the particular folks being released, it could be just the fact that having 17 hostages and moving surreptitiously is not easy to do. >> reporter: officials will not comment on the whereabouts of the freed hostages, but gagliano says they likely will spend hours debriefing with the f.b.i. about their ordeal and any information that could help secure the release of the remaining hostages. norah. >> o'donnell: manny bojorquez,to e biden administration today announced a diplomatic boycott of the beijing winter olympics set to begin less than two months from now but some lawmakers say the move doesn't go far enough. we get the latest from cbs' nancy cordes at the white houseo >> reporter: u.s. athletes will attend the beijing games next year. u.s. officials will not. that was the middle ground the white house settled on today in response to a series of human rights abuses, including the persecution of muslims in western china, and the throttling of democracy in hong kong. >> this is just sending a message that given these human rights abuses we cannot proceed with business as usual. >> reporter: chinese officials accused the u.s. of grandstanding and vaguely warned there would be resolute countermeasures. but u.s. lawmakers hailed the move, though some republicans want to go even further. >> no athletes, no administration officials, no corporate sponsors. >> i would support the moving of the olympics. >> >> reporter: the announcement came less than 24 hours before president biden is expected to confront another authoritarian leader, russian president vladimir putin. the two are slated to talk by phone tomorrow about russia's recent military buildup along the ukraine border. president biden will warn putin that if russia invades it could face severe economic pain in the form of crippling global sanctions. the goal: >> to make it very, very t difficult for mr. putin to go ahead and do what people are worried he may do. >> reporter: there are currently roughly 70,000 russian troops deployed at ukraine's border. u.s. intelligence initials say russia could invade the former soviet yet republic using as many as 175,000 troops as early as january. is president biden prepared to warn that there's is possibility of u.s. military involvement? >> i'm not going to get ahead of the president's conversation, but that is not our first objective. >> o'donnell: and nancy cordes joins us now on this critical meeting tomorrow. so, nancy, what is russia up to? >> reporter: norah, experts say what russia wants is to create a buffer of sorts against what it sees as western expansion by preventing this crucial neighbor, ukraine, from joining n.a.t.o., and perhaps most alarmingly, norah, cyber- securities officials at the white house say they've seen a huge spike in russian misinformation aimed at justifying a strike on ukraine which is similar to what they saw before another invasion about five years ago. >> o'donnell: let's see whether the president issues an ultimatum. all right, nancy cordes, thank you. in chicago, a dramatic turn in the trial of jussie smollett today when the former "empire" actor took the witness stand in his own defense. smollett is accused of lying to police being a victim of a hate crime and is said to have staged the attack. >> reporter: the actor took center stage at his trial trying to convince jurors he did not choreograph an attack on himself. the attorney saying were you playing a hoax? smollette said no. when asked why he didn't call police he said "i'm a black plan in america. i do not trust police. i was also a well-known figure at the time and openly gay. i wanted to play a boxer. i wanted to play a super-hero. the moment i got beat i became an (expletive) who got whopped." three years ago smollett said he was a victim of a racist and homophobic hate crime. he said his attackers doused him with bleach and hung a rope around his neck which he still had draped over him when officers arrived at his apartment. initially as identified as his attackers, the brothers in court, abel told the jury smollett orchestrated the hoax. smollett was arrested and then charges were dropped by state's attorney kim foxx. that decision wrought protest and within months a judge appointed a special prosecutor to review the case. he charged smollett with six counts of disorderly conduct for staging and lying to police about the attack. smollett will likely be the last witness for the night. this case could be in the jury's hands as soon as tomorrow, and if convicted, smollett could serve up to three years in prison. norah. >> o'donnell: charlie de mar, thank you. tonight, more fallout for former cnn host chris cuomo. he says he's quitting his sirius xm radio show called "let's get after it" cuomo was fired over the weekend after hit with a sexual harassment allegation, charges he denies. he was suspended from the network after new details surfaced about his efforts to help his brother then new york governor andrew cuomo fight off allegations. back here in washington, the body of bob dole will lie in state in the u.s. capitol rotunda thursday. he died sunday at age 98. dole, a republican from kansas is being remembered by members of both parties for devoting his life to public service. here's cbs' major garrett. >> reporter: senator bob dole embodied what many believe washington needs now, a good humored party loyalist who cared deeply about making government work. >> some of his greatest achievements were bipartisan endeavors. >> an honest broker with deep friendships and working relationships that spanned the aisle. >> i accept your nomination -- >> reporter: dole was the last presidential candidate who served in world war ii and in the '96 campaign said america needed more of the greatest generation's grit and values. gt >> and i know, because i was there, and i have seen it and i remember. >> reporter: growing up in russell, kansas, dole was a star athlete in high school and joined the army as a college str freshman. he suffered grievous wounds in italy that cost him the use of freshman. he suffered one arm. neighborhoods raised money to pay for surgeries and later sent him to congress. >> when i needed help, the people of russell helped. >> reporter: dole spent 20 years in the senate quitting as majority leader in a defeat against clint fen. against clinton. he became a pitch man for soft drinks for britney spears (dog woofs) >> easy boy! >> reporter: and even viagra. >> for erectile dysfunction. >> reporter: in 2016 dole became the only g.o.p. nominee to endorse donald trump. >> donald trump can win. >> reporter: dole was a farm belt fiscal conservative who wielded power quietly and over the years with humor and humility. qualities of what feels like a bygone era of national bricks. bygone era of national politics. >> my pledge one time was to make a difference in the life of at least one person every day. now, i've probably failed part of that, but i still work at its >> reporter: major garrett, cbs news, washington. >> o'donnell: a great american hero who dedicated his life to this country. all right, still ahead on tonight's "cbs evening news," details on a snowstorm targeting the northeast, plus the new class of american astronauts. # a painful, blistering rash that could interrupt your life for weeks. forget social events and weekend getaways. if you've had chickenpox, the virus that causes shingles is already inside of you. if you're 50 years or older ask 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the great tony award winner bette midler. ♪ did you ever know that you're my hero ♪ >> she can make us laugh and cry even at the same time, and that is the mark of an artist of the highest caliber. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> o'donnell: cast members of "saturday night live" past and present brought the laughs roasting boss lorne michaels. >> lorne deserves this honor because unlike so many others he resisted the urge to travel to space this year. o ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (stevie wonder playing superstition) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ very superstitious ♪ ♪ ♪ >> o'donnell: and the legendary stevie wonder got everyone on their feet saluting motown founder barry gordy. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ( cheers and applause ) celebrating the arts is back. the full ceremony will air here on cbs, december 22. we'll be right back. on cbs december 22. we'll be right back. oh my goodness... wow, lat all those! you get hungry for more and then you're just like, “wow, i'm learning about my family.” yeah, yep. which one, what'd you find? lorraine banks, look, county of 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more in the forecast tonight. 1 in 5 households added a pet during the pandemic but tonight we ask what happens when everyone starts heading back to the office. >> pause on the window and he will watch us leave and it breaks your heart. >> if you have not already booked with a local pet sitter or boarding facility, you are probably out of luck. right now at 7:00 and streaming on cbsn bay area we are tracking the much- anticipated return of rain. how long will it last and is there a more on the horizon? i'm allen martin. >> i'm amanda from the kpix 5 morning news in for elizabeth cook tonight. let's bring in chief meteorologist paul hagan for a look outside it's looking a little gloomy. >> definitely gloomy throughout the day but it's nice to see rain on the radar for the first time in 20 days. not everyone has the wet so far. the first batch is evaporated. moving from the northbay inland to the east bay, but this is paving the way for the heaviest rain further up to our north to move in late this evening and overnight tonight likely to drop rain across the entire bay area, at least a few hundredths of an inch of rain. your first rain chances will peak this evening and then