and they found in his car an ar-15 and multiple magazine of ammunition. >> o'donnell: the nation's biggest cop killer. why the pandemic made 2021 the deadliest year on record for america's law enforcement. north korean missile launch: the questions tonight about why the f.a.a. grounded planes in the west after kim jong-un's latest missile test. dangerously cold temperatures: subzero wind chills force schools to close. the fight over voting rights. tonight, the dramatic new step president biden will take to pressure congress to pass landmark legislation. and an update tonight on that story about a california chess program and how our viewers opened their hearts and wallets to help change lives. ♪ ♪ ♪ 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 are following a number of major stories tonight, but we want to start with breaking news and what is a miraculous series of events. this afternoon, a medical helicopter in distress was hovering low above a densely populated neighborhood and then landed in front of a church. it is believed that the chopper experienced mechanical trouble and the pictures of the wreckage, well, they're just unbelievable. and, yet, we are learning tonight that all on board survived with nonlife- threatening injuries. we're also told that the pilot was able to help the nurse and the infant get out of the helicopter after the crash. well tonight, that pilot is being hailed a hero. cbs' errol barnett is on the scene in drexel hill, pennsylvania. good evening, errol. >> reporter: good evening, norah. investigators will be here through the night figuring out not just how this happened but how no one was hurt.en y see jue ilotchuwer tred remble skl. >> reporter: it is being called miraculous. four people surviving a terrifying helicopter crash near philadelphia. this medical transport chopper heading from maryland to children's hospital of philly with a two-month-old baby girl, along with two medical workers and the pilot. witnesses say the chopper was hovering low, avoiding electrical lines and this church before crashing into the ground. >> the best way to describe it is a miracle. obviously, the pilot had a great command of the helicopter and was able to land it safely. he took the best interest of the community in hand to make sure there were no injuries, no property damage. so he did an excellent job. >> reporter: not a single bystander was injured, and everyone on board the helicopter suffered only nonlife- threatening injuries. about 30 firefighters responded to the crash, expecting much worse. officials say the chopper had about an hour's worth of fuel left, and crews took steps to prevent it from leaking into the water supply. >> can't wait to meet this gentleman and shake his hand for getting this plane down, the helicopter, the way he did. >> reporter: and there was a real rush of help by bystanders here. one witness telling cbs news, her ride share driver pulled over, got out to help, and was handed the two-month-old as people tried to extract the pilot. that child was then driven to children's hospital, or chop as it's known here, norah, which was its original destination. >> o'donnell: such fascinating details. errol barnett on the scene, thank you. well, we turn now to covid and the lightning-fast spread of the omicron variant and the strain that it is putting on america's hospitals. and in a senate hearing today, america's top infectious disease expert, dr. anthony fauci, got into a heated back-and-forth with republican senator rand paul. cbs' elise preston reports. >> reporter: as the omicron variant wreaks havoc on our nation's health system, tension on how to handle the surge is spreading, too. >> you are making a catastrophic epidemic for your political gain so the only-- >> you have politically attacked your colleagues. >> reporter: during a senate hearing, dr. anthony fauci accused senator rand paul of raising political donations with personal attacks. >> ...that kindles the crazies out there. and i have life-- threats upon my life, harassment of my family and my children with obscene phone calls, because people are lying about me. >> reporter: tonight, covid hospitalizations are rising in 43 states. medical centers are treating more than 116,000 in-patients a day, a 40% jump from just last week. and as covid cases have quadrupled in about a month, the c.d.c. is considering a change in its mask recommendations, backing n-95 and kn-95 masks, which offer the best protection. according to the c.d.c., a person wearing a cloth mask standing within six feet of an unmasked individual with covid, can become infected within 20 minutes, while it would take two and a half hours for a person wearing an n-95 mask. >> a typical cloth mask might be 50% effective, and that was okay before. it doesn't seem to be enough with omicron. n-95s offer much greater protection. they're able to block 95% of particles. >> reporter: still, there are signs that the surge of omicron infections may have crested in the northeast. >> cases are slowing down. the rate of increase is slowing down, but they're still high. >> reporter: with testing among the first line of defense, at- home testing kits remain in short supply and testing lines long. doctors warn: stay away from overcrowded hospitals. >> there's really no need to come to the emergency room just to be tested. you're going to take up resources and space that are needed for people who are more sick. >> reporter: starting saturday, americans can get reimbursed for eight over-the-counter tests a month through their private insurance. and a new real-world study shows the abbott binex now test as the most effective one. norah. >> o'donnell: all right, elise preston, thank you. today, the national law enforcement officers' memorial fund said that 2021 was the deadliest year on record for america's police. cbs' jeff pegues reports why. >> reporter: bobby williams and sherman peebles, muskogee county, georgia, sheriff's deputies died of covid-19 last september. >> we have 18 active cases right now. >> reporter: muskogee county sheriff gregory countryman says the virus continues to spread through his department, which is in a county where barely over 40% of people have been vaccinated. >> not only are we fighting with the criminals. we're also fighting with the virus that's throughout. >> reporter: last year, direct exposure to the virus in the line of duty was the leading cause of death for police. according to the newly-released law enforcement officers' fatality report, 301 officers died from covid-19 in 2021. that's a 65% increase over the year before. these seven states have had more than seven officer deaths due to covid. but that's not the only reason 2021 was the deadliest year on record for officers. last year, 61 officers were killed in the line of duty by firearms, a 36% increase over 2020, and 58 officers were killed in traffic-related accidents, 38% more than the year before. how would you describe those numbers? >> the numbers, quite frankly, are staggering. >> reporter: former connecticut state trooper troy anderson says the total number of officer deaths in the line of duty should get everyone's attention. has there ever been a year like this? >> there has never been a year like this. >> reporter: no. >> no, numbers are up across the board. >> reporter: figuring out what's causing all of these spikes in officer deaths will take time, but sheriff countryman has no doubt that one of the main suspects is covid-19. >> when we increasefighting crime, when we arrest people, we can't ask them, "have you been vaccinated?" >> reporter: this is preliminary data. and so in the final tally, the number of covid-related officer deaths in 2021 could very likely go up. this as some of the largest police unions across the country fight vaccine mandates. norah. >> o'donnell: jeff pegues, thanks. well, across the northeast, this was the coldest day in three years, with wind chills making it feel subzero in many areas. public schools were closed in boston and other cities, including syracuse, new york, and burlington, vermont, where the wind chill hit negative 23. in ellenburg, new york, it was downright dangerous, minus 37. the deep freeze should begin to ease tomorrow before a snowstorm threatens the region on sunday. all right, there is new information tonight about that deadly fire in the bronx that killed 17 people, including eight children. the medical examiner says they all died from smoke inhalation. new york city fire investigators are trying to determine why safety doors failed to close, allowing the blaze to spread. and to philadelphia now, where investigators say they're getting critical information from the five-year-old who was apparently playing with a lighter next to a christmas tree that likely caused the apartment fire last week that killed 12 people. the fire chief describes the child as traumatized. well, tonight, we are getting our first look at pictures of north korea's latest ballistic missile launch, and it comes after a mysterious ground stop by the f.a.a. almost immediately after the launch. cbs' david martin reports. >> reporter: the latest north korean missile test, conducted under the watchful eye of kim jong-un, was never a threat to the united states. but right after it was launched, the f.a.a. grounded airline flights at major airports in the west, from seattle to san diego, and from las vegas to honolulu. >> hold the gate. they have a ground stop for all aircraft. right now, they said don't let anybody move. >> reporter: full operations resumed in less than 15 minutes, and airlines reported no major delays. but there were some confused pilots and air traffic controllers. >> reporter: the north korean launch was immediately detected by satellites, and within minutes, the north american air defense command inside cheyenne mountain, in colorado, had determined it was not a threat to the u.s. the missile traveled 400 miles in what north korea claimed was a test of a hypersonic missile. >> so this is just a pretty simple ballistic missile. and it's got a little warhead with fins that can make a little maneuver. >> reporter: jeffrey lewis is with the middlebury institute. >> it doesn't have anything like the range that would be necessary to reach the united states. frankly, it couldn't even reach japan. >> reporter: north korean missile tests are always cause for concern, but until now, they have not been cause for grounding airliners. military officials say there was no need for the grounding. the f.a.a. says it is reviewing its procedures. norah. >> o'donnell: david martin at the pentagon. in the greatest democracy in the world, there's currently a fight about how we should vote, setting up a possible showdown in the senate, where democratic leaders are giving a deadline-- pass voting legislation by martin luther king jr. day next week, or rules in washington could change. here's cbs' ed o'keefe. >> reporter: speaking from the cradle of the civil rights movement, president biden today said the need to pass new voting rights legislation is urgent. >> i've been having these quiet conversations with members of congress for the last two months. i'm tired of being quiet! >> reporter: and he endorsed undoing u.s. senate's filibuster rule, requiring at least 60 votes to even debate certain legislation. >> to protect our democracy, i support changing the senate rules, whichever way they need to be changed, to prevent a minority of senators from blocking action on voting rghts. >> reporter: in the past year, 19 mostly republican-controlled states, have passed legislation that places restrictions on voting. democrats want to mandate early voting and voting by mail in all 50 states, and even makec d n h. and a bill named for the late georgia congressman john lewis would restore elements of the voting rights act. republicans nationwide are fiercely opposed. >> make no mistake, georgia is ground zero for the biden-harris assault on election integrity. >> reporter: shifting his focus to voting rights presents risks to the president, who needs support from arizona's kyrsten sinema and west virginia's joe manchin, but they're resisting changes in the filibuster rule. >> we need new rule changes but getting rid of the filibuster but getting rid of the filibuster doesn't make it work better. >> reporter: it frustrates civil rights leaders like cliff albright who decided to skip the speech today saying mr. biden isn't fighting hard enough. >> you can't run on the presidency because you have four decades in the senate and then you can't whip two votes. that's just not acceptable, right. >> reporter: the president insisted it can be done. adding pressure on democrats, some relatives of the late dr. martin luther king jr. say his federal holiday shouldn't be celebrated on monday unless congress passes voting rights legislation. the senate majority leader said today he could hold votes on those bills as soon as tomorrow. norah. >> o'donnell: ed o'keefe, thanks. with many school districts across the country playing covid whack-a-mole, between remote rearnig clas cbs' mstrannor.eporter: with wi, it's minus 7. >> all right, everybody have fun! >> reporter: a walk in the woods when you're a kid from la farge, wisconsin. in this 9,000-acre preserve, this new kindergarten program embraces the benefits of outdoor learning. >> good morning! good morning! >> reporter: and discovered a pandemic safe space. >> at the peak of an outbreak that we had, we had 28 active cases among students and staff. >> reporter: and how about in this program, how many kids? >> zero. >> reporter: none. coincidence? >> probably not. >> reporter: across covid america, 5400 schools report omicron surge has disrupted in- class learning, but not in portland, maine. >> we are still deeply inside a pandemic, and the response, in that phase one of getting teachers and students outside for health and safety. >> reporter: 17 schools in portland built outdoor learning spaces, plenty of winter gear and wifi. 6700 students k through 12 spend spend part of their day outdoors. that's also true in lafarge, where kindergarten only looks like recess all day. >> nobody is bored, not ever, not ever. and they're so joyful and healthy and happy. >> reporter: and do you think you learn more inside or outside? >> outside. >> reporter: because? >> because there's more stuff to learn. >> reporter: feel the wind, see the sun, dodge the pandemic. mark strassmann, cbs news, la farge, wisconsin. >> o'donnell: you need your textbooks and a pair of longjohns. all right, still ahead on tonight's "cbs evening news," two banks announce big changes in their overdraft fees. what it could mean for your finances. and how about them dogs? finances. and how 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