>> pelley: good evening. this is our western edition. governor chris christie ran into a traffic jam today on the road to the whitehouse. evidence revealed today shows that a top aide to christie and appointees of the new jersey governor created a four-day tie-up for thousands of drivers on roads leading to the busiest bridge in the world. the motive, political revenge. christie, who's believed to be considering a run for the presidential nomination, says he is outraged by today's developments and insists he was misled by his staff. elaine quijano is in fort lee for us tonight. elaine? is outraged by today's developments and insists he was misled by his staff. elaine quijano is in fort lee for us tonight. elaine? >> reporter: scott, it was a local traffic jam on the approach to the busy george washington bridge behind me linking new york and new jersey. in september unannounced lane closures backed up traffic into the new jersey town of fort lee. the closures sparked accusations of political retribution against mark sokolich, fort lee's democratic mayor, who did not endorse governor chris christie during his successful reelection bid. christie denied the allegation. now e-mails and text messages reveal a top christie aide appears to be responsible for the closures. last august, his deputy chief of staff, bridgette anne kelly wrote: that e-mail w that e-mail was sent to david wild and seen the, a christie ally, who was in charge of the bridge, the port authority of new york and new jersey. his response to the directive? "got it" he wrote. when the closures happened, fort lee's mayor texted another port authority official. >> reporter: at text message appears to rell in the results. >> reporter: another text message appears to revel in the results. it's unclear who sent the message and who received it. the exchange continues. >> reporter: that's a reference >> reporter: that's a reference to barbara buono, the democrat who lost to christie in november. new york officials came to the rescue, ordering the lane reopened. the disclosures come just weeks after governor christie said his senior staff denied any involvement. >> i've made it very clear to everybody on my senior staff that if anyone had any knowledge about this that they needed to come forward to me and tell me about it and they've assured me they don't. >> reporter: fort lee mayor mark sokolich. what do you think these closures are about? >> i was punished because i didn't -- i guess i didn't support the governor in his reelection bid. >> reporter: sokolich said the closures caused days of gridlock in his city, delaying emergency vehicles and putting residents at risk. >> it's completely inexcusable to me and i think it's a culture that's been established that i just don't think people think they'll ever get caught and they can do what they want to do and it's not the way it works. >> reporter: late this afternoon, governor christie released a written statement saying: scott, the governor went on to say the people in his administration will be held responsible. >> pelley: elaine quijano at the george washington bridge. elaine, thanks very much. chris christie is a leading star in the republican party. the former federal prosecutor was elected governor of new jersey in 2009. he was reelected last year by a wide margin. christie declined to run for president in 2012, instead he endorsed mitt romney and delivered the keynote address at the republican convention. christie drew some g.o.p. criticism for praising president obama's response to superstorm sandy just days before the presidential election. john dickerson in washington is our cbs news political director and, john, what does this mean to christie's presidential hopes? >> well, this is a bruise that's not going to go away easily. political scandals last when they reinforce existing doubts about a politician. christie's made a name for himself as a blunt and tough executive but his opponents say he's a bully. this abuse of power in his administration gives support to that charge. the danger for a politician is if every time you show your strong side voters are reminded of a darker other side. christie also sells himself as a strong executive, but this raises questions about how he runs things. how did this happen on his watch? how did he not know about it? did he create a culture where this behavior was possible? and finally what's he going to do about it now? how the governor answers those questions in the next day or so will determine how often they dog him if he decides to run for president. >> pelley: john dickerson in our washington newsroom. john, thanks very much. today the east and midwest saw the beginnings of a break in this brutal cold wave. pittsburgh-- where the high yesterday was only 4 degrees-- was all the way up to 22 today. and in the south, atlanta went from 26 to a balmy 41. the deep freeze is blamed for at least 31 deaths since saturday. liz colin of our cbs station wcco is in minneapolis for us tonight. liz? >> reporter: scott, tonight will be our 11th consecutive subzero night here in minnesota before we slowly begin our crawl out of this deep freeze tomorrow. the mercury reached four degrees today in minneapolis and the winds calmed. warm enough for minnesota schools to reopen after a two- daybreak forced by the cold. but some buses idled during the deep freeze would not start today. dead batteries and dented fenders have been common complaints at auto shops. mechanic jason younghands. >> the last three days have been extremely busy. >> reporter: roads across the upper midwest remain treacherous and frostbite is still a threat. one hospital here tells us they've treated 14 serious cases. but after 62 consecutive hours below zero, a day in the single digits is welcome. >> i'm ready to go someplace warm. i'm ready for warmth. >> reporter: scott, by this weekend, we are expecting temperatures here to be in the mid-30s in the minneapolis/st. paul area and that is actually above average for january. >> pelley: liz colin of wcco. liz, thanks very much. well, wherever you are, have a look at buffalo, new york, and feel better. more than 17 inches of snow piled up there in part because of the effect of lake erie. we called around buffalo today and talked to deborah nasca. she confessed to us she found herself driving on the sidewalk and didn't know it. "every time i park" she said "my tires freeze to the ground." dean reynolds is on another great lake tonight with a look at the cost of this cold weather from chicago. >> reporter: bursting pipes drenched the columbia sportswear store in chicago this morning. >> we just had water coming down through this whole front area. >> reporter: alison anderson is the store manager. >> they were at the front of the building by the door here so the cold weather was definitely the reason. >> reporter: it happened at the worst possible time for a store full of warm jackets for sale. >> sorry, we're closed today. >> sorry! >> reporter: the economic disruption from the cold could be felt at chicago's burnham hotel where cancellations piled up like drifting snow. nabil moubayed oversees the hotel. do you remember how full you were? what capacity you were? >> we have three hotels in the chicago loop and most of them were running somewhere between 20% an40%. >> reporter: add lost productivity from people stranded miles from their desk to lost wages from workers told to stay home and economic growth may have lost 0.2%. kristin drake works for planalytics which helps businesses plan for weather. >> we're looking at probably around a $5 billion impact. a lot of that is due to the here is size of area impacted. >> reporter: but cooped-up consumers were actually good things for e-commerce and auto repair shops were doing a bangup business. sales of shovels, salt, and snowblowers were hot according to ace hardware's jeremy melnick. >> obviously with the snow and the cold weather things were flying out the door pretty fast. >> reporter: but retailers are a bit concerned, scott, about the coming weeks when homeowners start getting high energy bills. businesses expect that could hurt sales around president's day. >> reporter: dean, thanks very much. it was 50 years ago tonight in his first state of the union address that lyndon johnson declared war on poverty in america and asked congress to enlist. half a century later, millions are still in poverty and the war goes on, but nancy cordes tells us much of the fighting now is between democrats and republicans over what to do about it. >> reporter: republicans argued today the war on poverty is being waged the wrong way. ohio congressman jim jordan. >> 50 years of doing this, 77 different programs and we have 46 million americans in poverty. so obviously it's not working. >> reporter: the party is creating a poverty task force that will spend the next year searching for ways to incentivize work, tying job training and work requirements to government benefits like food stamps. florida's republican senator marco rubio said he had a more dramatic idea. >> i am proposing that we turn over washington's antipoverty programs and the trillions that are spent on them to the states. >> reporter: republicans like rubio are trying to soften the party's image when it comes to the growing gap between rich and poor. do you think the states have shown that they can do these programs better than the federal government? >> some states will be more successful than others but they're more accountable to their people than people in washington are because they're closer to people. >> reporter: democrats argue extending long-term unemployment benefits that lapsed last month would be the fastest way to help 1.3 million jobless americans. republicans, they say, are standing in the way. massachusetts democrat jim mcgovern. >> there are those in this country and in this house who would destroy the programs that help people in need. those who have replaced the war on poverty with the new war on poor people. >> reporter: republicans want the cost of those unemployment benefits to be offset by cuts elsewhere. poverty and income inequality, scott, are shaping up to be key issues not just here in the capital this year but at the white house as well. and the president says he'll lay out his agenda, which includes an increase in the minimum wage, in his state of the union address later this month. >> there was a deadly crash today involving a u.s. military helicopter, a navy sea dragon with five on board went down off the coast of virginia. two crew members died. there's no word on the cause. combat continued in iraq today where the government is trying to regain control of the city of fallujah in anbar province which was seized last week by islamist extremists. violence has been rising in the past year all over iraq. elizabeth palmer has just arrived in baghdad for us. liz, what have you seen so far? hotel and you could be stepping back in time. things look pretty much as they did just over two years ago when the last of the u.s. forces pulled out. we arrived at night and noticed right away the city is very dimly lit. there's still not enough power. some families only getting eight hours a day. concrete blast barriers everywhere and heavy security presence of uniformed iraqi security forces. people are very much afraid. they know that almost 8,000 civilians have died in iraq in the last 12 months, most of them in religiously motivated bombings here in baghdad. and they think that this mixture of religious tension and toxic corrupt politics is going to explode. i spoke with an iraqi politician on the way in here and i asked him, what's your biggest fear right now? he said very bluntly "civil war." >> pelley: elizabeth palmer in baghdad. thanks, liz. today we're finding out what happens when a state legalizes marijuana. lines are long and prices get high in colorado. and thousands are evacuated as a giant volcano erupts. when the "cbs evening news" continues. [ male announcer ] research suggests cell health plays a key role throughout our lives. one a day men's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for men's health concerns as we age. with 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day men's 50+. >> pelley: one week ago today colorado became the first state to allow sale of marijuana for recreational use. other states are interested to see how this plays out. manuel bojorquez in denver tells us that so far for some people legal pot is a hit. >> reporter: there has been a line outside ever green apothecary in denver everyday since january 1. owner tim cullen used to only sell medical marijuana. >> we used to do about 75 people a day through our medical store. we're averaging about 375 sales a day now. >> reporter: and you've created jobs. >> i can't hire people fast enough. >> reporter: demand is so strong the price of pot has doubled to $400 an ounce. supply is limited because the 40 stores in the state currently licensed and selling must grow their own marijuana plants. >> as more stores are able to get licensed i anticipate prices will drop. >> just remember it's pure. it's potent. >> reporter: a third of sales at ever green have been to people from out of state even though they can not buy more than a quarter ounce or take it across state lines. raymond cappabianco drove here from florida. >> first legal marijuana i've bought in my life. >> reporter: you're feeling okay about it? >> so far. >> reporter: so far? >> reporter: denver councilman charlie brown was against legalizing marijuana sales for recreational use. he's now part of the group writing new rules for the city's growth industry. >> i was fearful of, shall we say, cannabis chaos. but that didn't turn out. it was really a marijuana milestone. but the concerns are still there, especially to our young people. >> reporter: police in colorado and neighboring states report no significant increase in marijuana-related offenses or trafficking. but critics say one week is not enough time to assess the full impact. at least 130 more shops are waiting for permits to open. >> keep on toking. >> reporter: manuel bojorquez, cbs news, denver. >> pelley: today former congresswoman gabrielle giffords said her battle against gun violence is like her rehab from an assassination attempt three years ago today-- a daily step by step struggle. writing in the "new york times," giffords said one idea to reduce violence is more mental health resources so the dangerously mentally ill find it easier to receive treatment than to buy firearms. gabrielle giffords also revealed that her physical therapy has brought new movement to the right arm that she once thought would never move again. there was a big solar flare, big enough to ground the a space mission. that story is next. ♪ [ chicken caws ] [ male announcer ] when your favorite food starts a fight, fight back fast with tums. heartburn relief that neutralizes acid on contact and goes to work in seconds. ♪ tum, tum tum tum tums! heartburn relief that neutralizes acid on contact my feet felt so heavy at the they used to get really tired. until i started gellin'. i got dr. scholl's massaging gel insoles. when they're in my shoes, my feet and legs feel less tired. it's like walking on a wave. dr. scholl's massaging gel insoles. i'm a believer! or go to coveredca.com. you can also use our website to find local, in-person help. there's not much time left - open enrollment ends soon. so call 800-890-7561, or go to coveredca.com, and get covered. >> pelley: today a cargo mission to the space station was postponed because of a solar flare. have a look at this. it was a major eruption on the sun. rocket maker orbital sciences was worried that high radiation would damage its spacecraft. the launch may come tomorrow. a volcano in indonesia is launching. clouds of ash and smoke today. mount sinabung has been erupting for more than a week. it sat dormant for hundreds of years before it roared back to life in 2010. no injuries are reported, but the ash is ruining cropping. 22,000 people have been evacuated. today, three baseball greats received the sport's highest honor-- election to the hall of fame. pitcher greg maddux won four consecutive cy young awards in the '90s, his atlanta braves teammate tom glavine won two. white sox slugger frank thomas-- nicknamed the big hurt-- was a two-time m.v.p. it began 50 years ago today-- the longest war in u.s. history and it's not over yet. that story's next. yeah... try new alka seltzer fruit chews. they work fast on heartburn and taste awesome. these are good. told ya! i'm feeling better already. 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[ male announcer ] new alka seltzer fruits chews. if yand you're talking toevere rheuyour rheumatologistike me, about trying or adding a biologic. this is humira, adalimumab. this is humira working to help relieve my pain. this is humira helping me through the twists and turns. this is humira helping to protect my joints from further damage. doctors have been prescribing humira for over ten years. humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. for many adults, humira is proven to help relieve pain and stop further joint damage. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, have happened. blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure have occurred. before starting humira , your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. ask your doctor if humira can work for you. this is humira at work. but with less energy, moodiness, and a low sex drive, i had to do something. i saw my doctor. a blood test showed it was low testosterone, not age. we talked about axiron the only underarm low t treatment that can restore t levels to normal in about two weeks in most men. axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18 or men with prostate or breast cancer. women, especially those who are or who may become pregnant, and children should avoid contact where axiron is applied as unexpected signs of puberty in children or changes in body hair or increased acne in women may occur. report these symptoms to your doctor. tell your doctor about all medical conditions and medications. serious side effects could include increased risk of prostate cancer, worsening prostate symptoms, decreased sperm count, ankle, feet or body swelling, enlarged or painful breasts, problems breathing while sleeping and blood clots in the legs. common side effects include skin redness or irritation where applied, increased red blood cell count, headache, diarrhea, vomiting, and increase in psa. ask your doctor about axiron. next on kpix 5 weather talent appears at wx center with generic pinpoint filling monitor then we take special sponsored 7-day graphic the >> and this administration here and now declares unconditional war on poverty in america. >> pelley: president lyndon johnson 50 years ago tonight. soon after the declaration of that war, johnson visited the battlefield. don dahler caught up with a woman who was there and who enlisted in that war. >> reporter: in 1964, president johnson came to the front lines of his war on poverty -- the appalachian mountains of kentucky. his trip showed america a disturbing vision of itself-- people living in shacks with no electricity. >> that's me. >> reporter: how old were you there? >> i was about nine. >> reporter: growing up in these mountains was a little girl, eula hall. how bad was it here back then? >> well, we didn't have indoor plumbing, we didn't have running water, there was no health care for the people that didn't have insurance or have money. >> reporter: were people dying for no reason because there wasn't good health care? >> yes, they were. people died because they didn't get the proper health care. >> reporter: this was all dirt road? >> it was dirt. >> reporter: with the closest doctor 50 miles away on unpaved roads something as benign as an infected cut from a rusty nail could prove fatal. hall's education ended in the eighth grade and she began working with community organizers who taught her how to fight to get things done. she eventually became the driving force in changing her corner of appalachia. >> okay, senator kennedy -- >> reporter: politicians took notice. that's senator kennedy? >> yeah, that's senator kennedy. >> reporter: it meant a lot to you he would come here? >> oh, lord, it did. i was so happy to talk to him. >> reporter: 90% of the wells in her area were contaminated with bacteria. in the late 1960s she got federal funds to have clean water piped in from the closest water treatment plant. >> we've worked hard and fought hard for mud creek. >> reporter: using federal grants and private donations hall built the first and only medical clinic the county. what began as a shack in 1973 is now a modern facility with its own doctors, x-rays, and pharmacy serving over 7,000 patients a year. >> i love this place. i know when they open that door and they walk in they're going to be treated with respect and they're going to be treated with the best we've got to offer. >> reporter: do you think we've won the war on poverty? >> we won a lot of battles on the war on poverty. i won't say that we won them all, but i think we done great with what we could do. >> reporter: as long as she has a cane to walk with, this 86- year-old soldier says she will never stop fighting. don dahler, cbs news, kentucky. >> pelley: the power of determination. that's the "cbs evening news" for tonight. for all of us at cbs news all around the wor closure of one of the stat' biggest foster farms plants. good evening, i'm ken bastida. your realtime captioner is mrs. linda m. macdonald. breaking news a health alert closes one of the biggest foster farms plants. good evening, i'm ken bastida. >> i'm elizabeth cook. it's another black eye for foster farms. linda yee on the troubling discovery that shut them down. >> reporter: there is a cockroach infestation at the plant in livingston, california, and that's why the usda shut them down. they are currently under investigation after being implicated in a nationwide salmonella outbreak last year that sickened 400 people. today the agency suspended all poultry processing at the plants, one of the biggest foster farm plants? the state citing egregious conditions, saw cockroaches in the processing line and chicken products on the slaughterhouse floor. the cockroaches were also on a plastic tub that came into contact with chicken. foster farms says it has temporarily stopped operations at its living storm plant to allow for enhanced sanitizing to take place. the plant treatment took place this afternoon and the company expects to fully resume operations once approved for inspections. they will stay closed until foster farms identifies the sources of the infestation and comes up with a plan to eliminate the bugs. the company is in damage control mode again. they are promising to create a special advisory board to deal with food safety. >> thank you. even more breaking news right now. this silver bicycle mangled in the middle of san francisco south of market neighborhood