field in the middle of the game shirtless. building trust: teams and police officers break down misconceptions. >> i'm not programmed to trust the police. >> duncan: and later, portraits with a purpose. >> look at that smile. >> duncan: artists donate their talent and time to pay tribute to fallen heroes. ♪ ♪ ♪ this is the "cbs weekend news" from new york, with jericka duncan. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> duncan: good evening. and thanks for joining us, and happy new year. as the long holiday weekend wraps up, some travelers are literally at a stand still. more than 2,400 flights have been cancelled today alone. that is according to flight aware, a website that tracks air travel. on the ground it's not much better with severe weather adding to the travel woes. cbs' tom wait is in los angeles with the very latest. tom, it really looks like there are two major factors at play here. >> reporter: good evening, jericka, that's right, omicron and storms are making it a struggle for millions of americans to get home. drivers are delayed and flyers are frustrated on this record travel day. the rush to return home is turning into a day of disruptions. americans are facing full freeways and jam-packed airports, with bad weather and omicron fueled staff shortages giving travelers a holiday headache. >> sat on the tarmac for an hour and a half. >> holiday air travel is up 184% from 2020 as flight delays and cancellations pile up across the country. at chicago midway international airport, winter weather forced more than half of flights to be scrapped. >> reporter: how long do you think it will take the airlines to rebound from the delays and cancellations over the holiday? >> that is a tough call. it really kind of depends how they work with their staffing and the weather, it is really taking a lot of hard hits on the airlines. we hope to get through in the next week or two but it will take some time. >> reporter: jeff spring of aaa says holiday travel is at near pre-pandemic levels. from 2020 it jumped 28 percent, even as packed roads and dangerous wet and icey conditions slow many down. >> reporter: are people hitting the roads like you expected them to. >> it was one of the busiest travel holidays on record. nationwide not just hitting the roads but all over different kinds of travel formats and that is the most in nearly 20 years since triple a did the tracking. >> reporter: those record breaking travel numbers are stressing many americans trying to get home. >> last year, i was traveling, there was no one here. which was kind of eerie, so i like to see the people but this was a lot of people. >> reporter: and experts say pandemic fatigue is one reason why so many people are hitting the road. but omicron could change those numbers in the coming days and weeks, jericka. >> duncan: thank you, tom. a federal judge has ruled that president biden cannot require teachers in federal head start early education programs to be vaccinated against covid. the ruling is considered a victory for the 24 states that sued the biden administration. meanwhile the surge in the omicron variant of the coronavirus shows no signs of slowing down. cbs' mark strassmann has more. >> reporter: a new year in our covid chronicles, welcomed by super-spreader jamboree. risky behavior, even reckless -- reckless, like many new year's resolutions, covid records get broken daily. the speed at which omicron is spreading is staggering. take these jarring u.s. numbers; a new average of 356,000 new cases a day. that's four more cases every second, on thursday 16 states reported their highest total ever. >> the numbers we're seeing, put that mask on and keep it on through january, at least, honestly. >> reporter: more ominously, those numbers could be fractional. driving this epideic, people who are undiagnosed, either asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic but untested. >> it is so busy, so packed. we have patients coming in all the time. >> reporter: more worry spots. hospitals, overwhelmed by sick patients and sick staff. >> the majority of the people are not vaccinated. i can't get them out of the fricking waiting room. he can't get the sick people out of the waiting room to get them away from these people with covid. >> reporter: on covid front lines the pentagon has sent reinforcement into hospitals in wisconsin, montana and witch-- michigan, many doctors say avoid going to the er, often a covid hot bed especially for children. >> if you are going to have people getting together and you have children that are unvaccinated, they will be the bullseye for omicron. >> reporter: across covid america last week almost 400 children a day were hospitalized for the virus. that's a 66 percent increase from the week before. >> probably seeing four to five times the number of children who are currently in my i.c.u.. >> reporter: here in georgia testing shows the positivity rate now pushes 40%. it's so high atlanta public schools just decided to hold virtual class this week when the kids come back on tuesday. jericka? >> duncan: mark, thank you. many schools are scheduled to resume classes tomorrow after the holiday break. but the spike in covid cases among children has teachers and parents questioning what to do. cbs' tom hanson has that part of the story tonight from new york. tom, good evening. >> reporter: hey there jericka. good evening to you. the rush is on to get students and faculty tested before heading back to the classroom. here in new york more than five million covid tests have been distributed to public schools like this one, and as many as 8 million more are on the way. as millions of kids head back to class tomorrow, the new year is bringing a new uncertainty. parents spending hours in line for testing, often confused about school guidance and protocols that vary district to district and even school to school. many worry their kids are at risk. >> they got to use the same bathrooms. you know, the same lunchroom, so you expose everybody to covid. >> reporter: more than 2,000 k- 12 schools have already closed or offer remote learning but most of america's major school systems will resume this week by teaching in person, while they can. >> if the teachers we have are coming down with the virus, who is going to teach the students. >> reporter: in this covid crash course, testing is key. dr. matthew harris is a physician at northwell health in new hyde park new york. >> we're seeing a scramble to get rapid tests and pcr's to students and faculty ahead of their return tomorrow. >> reporter: is testing enough? >> i think testing in combination with robust vaccination program is a valuable tool to the arsenal. >> reporter: schools in seattle and washington d.c. extended their winter break using the time to distribute thousands of rapid tests to students and faculty. baltimore will provide onsite pcr tests to schools with outbreaks and california will provide one to two tests to students ahead of tomorrow's reopening. now other schools are hunkering down as the omicron wave sweeps across the country. more than 8 school districts in new jersey are going remote and atlanta schools are doing the same. jericka, experts predict that the wave will peak around mid january. >> duncan: wow, tom, all of it is such a risk which is what makes it so difficult for parents, thank you. parts of north central alabama are recovering from severe weather that damaged several homes and buildings. luckily no deaths or injuries reported. there is a lot of damage in and around hopkinsville in bowling green, where a tornado with winds of up 115 miles per hour passed through that area on saturday. no one was reported hurt. in covington, georgia, southeast of atlanta, there is a lot of cleaning up to do today after a tornado cut a wide path of destruction through that area on new year's eve. part of the roof of this school was ripped off. no one was inside at the time and no reported injuries there as well. in southeast wisconsin snow is the issue as much of eight to nine inches blanketed kenosha late sday. road travel was difficult as you can imagine. several crashes were reported. plowing efforts were hampered when some employees were unable to work, guessed it, due to covid. the exceptionally mild weather in parts of the northeast and midatlantic states is about to end. a fast-moving storm is expected to bring about one to four inches of snow from charlottesville virginia, to east to new york city. snow will continue through tomorrow morning. this week marks one year since the deadly insurrection at the u.s. capitol. in a new cbs poll finds that most americans fear something like that could happen again. nearly seven in ten believe the january 6th attacks were a sign of increasing political violence, not an isolated incident. and two thirds of americans believe our democracy remains threatened. ed o'keefe is at the white house tonight with more. ed, what more can you tell us about these polls? >> reporter: well, jericka, good evening. several interesting findings in the survey, we should point out a majority of americans, democrats, republicans and independents overwhelmingly condemn what happened on january 6th. but as to why so many are fearful there could be more political violence, take a look at some questions. first we asked if ever justified for political candidates or officials to insult people, lie to the media or voters, or call for violence. while a majority of americans say it is never justified, 14 percent of respondents said if some elected officials or candidates might be justified in calling for political violence. second we asked what former president trump should do in 2024. a majority said he shouldn't run for president again, 26 percent say he shouldn't, 12 percent said he should be fighting right now to retake the presidency. mostly through legal challenges, but some believe through violence. while that is a small percentage of the overall respondents, it is a signal that millions of people still believe political violence may be some what justified. we should point out president biden and lawmakers are expected to hold solemn commemoration event this week to mark that one year anniversary. >> duncan: we know russia and ukraine continue to be at odds and president biden met with ukraine's president. what more do we know of the conversation they had? >> that's right, they spoke by telephone this afternoon and the white house says the president reiterated to the u.s. and european ally was respond decisively if russia attacks ukraine. this is a follow up conversation to one the president had with russian president putin just last week. american and russian diplomats are set to hold follow up conversations in a week, jericka. >> duncan: all right, ed o'keefe from the white house, thank you. >> the tampa bay buccaneers dismissed wide receiver antonio brown after a strange incident. in the middle of a game with the jets today brown took off his jersey and equipment and left the field shirtless as he waved good-bye to fans. brown was playing with his second game with the bucs after he was suspended by the nfl for misrepresenting his covid vaccination status. tampa bay beat the jets 28-24. straight ahead on the cbs weekend news, sailing into a cleaner environment without dirty fossil fuel. o a cleaner environment without dirty fossil fuels. ey lemon chi. for fast-acting sore throat relief. wooo vaporize sore throat pain with vicks vapocool drops. ♪ ♪ just two pills for all day pain relief. aleve it, and see what's possible. and also try alevex topical pain relief. alice loves the scent of gain so much, she wished there was a way to make it last longer. say hello to your fairy godmother alice and long-lasting gain scent beads. try spring daydream, now part of our irresistible scent collection. liz, you nerd, cough if you're in here! shh! i took mucinex dm for my phlegmy cough. what about rob's dry cough? works on that too, and lasts 12 hours. 12 hours?! who studies that long? mucinex dm relieves wet and dry coughs. >> duncan: welcome back, america's first hydrogen powered ferry is here, ben tracey stakes a deep dive into what that means for the future and why there are still some concerns about their impact on the environment. >> reporter: for more than a century ferry boats have moved people around san francisco bay. powered mostly by diesel, a planet-warming fossil fuel. so this is the boat of the future? but now there is a sea change coming. >> down the hatch. >> reporter: down the hatch. this is the first passenger ferry in the world. >> so these are the fuel cells. >> reporter: powered entirely by hydrogen fuel cells. >> instead of big diesel engines spinning things to make power, just happens in the fuel cells. jeff sokolik is with all american marine in bellingham, washington, it built a 75 passenger catamaran that will soon launch in san francisco bay with zero emissions. >> that is really kind of the holy grail of this. >> reporter: ron willy is president of the company. what does a hydrogen powered boat allow for? >> when you actually use hydrogen to create electricity the only product is literally hot water. zero emissions, completely clean. >> reporter: the marine industry, mostly international shipping is one of the dirty and not so little secrets of climate change. it causes about 3 percent of all global carbon dioxide gas emissions which is more than the co2 emissions from the airline industry. this much larger hydrogen powered ferry is now being built in europe. and the technology could eventually be applied to container ships but there is a downside. if hydrogen leaks during production or from a tank it contributes to global warming. >> there is a lot of hope and promise around it but in order for it to really move forward, in order for the climate to be protect, we need to understand what the leak potential really is. back in bellingham, they're proud that a cleaner future is being built in america. >> i really think it's going to be a game changer as things move forward. >> reporter: and a sea change for the industry. ben tracy, cbs news, bellingham, washington. >> duncan: and not a bad change. well, still ahead on the cbs weekend news, a change at this new jersey high school where police are there for a lesson in trust. police are there for a lesson in trust. new vicks convenience pack. dayquil severe for you... and daily vicks super c for me. vicks super c is a daily supplement with vitamin c and b vitamins to help energize and replenish. dayquil severe is a max strength daytime, coughing, power through your day, medicine. new from vicks. 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[a vulture squawks.] there he is. only pay for what you need. ♪liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty♪ >> duncan: a new jersey school has added an unconventional lesson to its curriculum. it's trying to bridge the divide between some of its students and the police. cbs' meg oliver tells us how. >> it is a grueling day of competition. from pedaling and punching, to swimming and it's all about trust. the day started it at the crack of dawn in st. benedicts prep in newark where new partnership was formed between students and the new jersey state police. >> raise your hand if you feel nervous when you see a law enforcement officer. >> reporter: in an effort to break down misconceptions, the school pairs students like 16 year old seth da matas with trooper mike guenther for a day of intense bonding. >> reporter: that when you first met your partner, what was your first impression. >> he is a little bit smaller than me, of course. >> smaller but the 5 foot 7 trooper benches almost twice his weight. >> do you trust law enforcement? >> not as much, no. >> why not? >> because of the recent stories and basically the influence that i am growing up in, as a dark- skinned male i'm not programmed to trust the police. and even in my own opinions, i don't trust the police. >> when you hear that why how does that make you feel. >> that is why we are here today, to build relationships with the community. >> i'm unbelievably proud of all of you. >> a relationship head master father edwin leahy wants to nourish to improve the fabric and future of their community. >> what are you hoping your students walk away with today? >> i hope that they talk, i hope the drums start to beat about what this relationships that are being built between these kids. the kids talk to other kids, to kids in their neighborhood, you know what, they are not what you think they are. i hope the police will think of some of these kids that they have encountered who have a face and a name when they have to deal with somebody in a difficult situation. >> a face and a name and a family. >> a face, a name, brothers and sisters, parents, or children, yeah, all of that. >> an exhausting experience that hopefully helps strangers continue seeing each other as partners. >> this morning they came up to you and put their arms around you. how does that make you feel? >> it was awesome. it was probably one of the highlights of my career in a long time. >> reporter: meg oliver, cbs news, newark, new jersey. >> duncan: next on the cbs weekend news, how portraits of service members are preserving a lifetime of memories. ver, cbs n, new jersey. >> duncan: next on the cbs weekend news, how portraits of service members are preserving a lifetime of memories. unlike ordinary memory supplements, neuriva plus fuels six key indicators of brain performance. more brain performance? yes, please! neuriva. think bigger. with downy infusions, let the scent set the mood. ♪ feel the difference with downy. on ancestry i discovered more about my great-great-grandfather baptiste caretto. ancestry threads all of the little facts together into a narrative so you get to feel like you're walking the same path they did. 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