iraq today, opening an offensive that the pentagon hopes will be a breakthrough against the islamic extremists who are occupying much of syria and iraq. iraqi kurdish troops, backed by 36 american airstrikes, moved to retake the town of sinjar, and they cut a highway that is used by isis to carry supplies from raqqa, its stronghold in syria, to mosul, the largest city that isis holds in iraq with more than a million residents. charlie d'agata is with the kurdish peshmerga forces. >> reporter: the battle to reclaim sinjar began in the air. u.s. air strikes pounded suspected isis targets throughout the day. thick smoke hung over the city as isis fighters lit banks of tires to try to block the bombers' visibility. dug in on the mountain side, kurdish peshmerga forces searched for targets, passing the coordinates to u.s. advisers. this is one of the forward fighting position where's they're helping to pick targets for air strikes. soldiers here told us with aircraft overhead all the time, sometimes it's just five minutes from the moment they call it in to the time it's delivered. kurdish fighters are so close to isis militants, they can hear their conversations on simple two-way radios. "there's an airplane in the air" the voice said. "stop, hide." sniper mazan maraq is watching. "they're inside houses," he told us. "they move from house to house. they're behind the rubble." maraq and his family fled sinjar when isis militants overran the city 15 months ago. tens of thousands were uprooted in the terror that followed as isis murdered, raped, and enslaved members of the yazidi sect. today, the 22-mile stretch of highway that kurdish forces took control of breaks a key isis supply route from syria. but the fight is only starting. as the day wore on, kurdish soldiers spotted more isis militants on the move and scrambled into position. maraq says he hopes isis will be defeated and his family can return home. and when do you think you will liberate sinjar? "hopefully tonight," he said. this fight is going to go house to house, scott. and peshmerga soldiers told us they expect to face snipers, car bombs, and booby traps, not only roadside bombs, but inside buildings, as they push further into the city. >> pelley: charlie d'agata on the battlefield tonight. charlie, thank you. an ohio man accused of being an isis supporter was arrested today and charged with trying to recruit people to kill u.s. servicemembers. jeff pegues is following this. jeff. >> reporter: scott, based on what investigators say bob mcdonald posted online, he was the type of troubled sole that they are concerned about, someone easily influenced by isis' social media propaganda. prosecutors say 25-year-old terrance mcneil, shown here in hospital scrubs, got the f.b.i.'s attention this year when he promoted what was essentially an isis hit list of members of the u.s. military. isis' so-called hacking division published the list, complete with photographs, names, and addresses. prosecutors say in late september,sing his tumblr account, mcneil reblogged the list and tried to solicit others to kill the service members, "wherever you find them." his tumblr account was suspended numerous times but he often opened another account using the words lone wolf. we reached out to his attorney for comment but we have not heard back. >> pelley: jeff, thank you. in an extraordinary move toned, the secretary of defense has fired his top military adviser, a three-star general, over alexwaigzs of misconduct. ash carter fired lieutenant general ron lewis, who before his pentagon assignment, had been an attack helicopter pilot in iraq and afghanistan. carter did not spell ow the allegations, but he said the defense department is investigating. today, the university of missouri appointed an african american as interim president. michael middleton takes over for tim wolfe, who reswriepped on monday after students protested that he was insensitive to racial complaint. as other campuses joined the protest today, police are now investigating a threat at howard university in washington, d.c., and here's anna werner. >> reporter: additional officers were sent to checkpoints into and out of howard university this afternoon after a threat to students was found on social media. this comes after a 19-year-old student at the university of missouri was arrested this week, charged with making terrorististic threats after he posted online he was going to shoot black students on campus. tensions are rising on campuses across the country after the student protests led to the president's resignation at mizzou. hundreds of students gathered today at syracuse and yale universities to stand in solidarity with those demonstrators. >> we stand with mizzou. >> reporter: and just yesterday at ithaca college in upstate new york, students called for their school's president to step down due to a perceived lack of response to racial incidents. the department of education reports the number of racial complaints on college campuses has increased from 555 in 2009 to 939 last year. this video of racist chants by fraternity members of the university of oakula home afs widely reported last spring. but several students at yale told us the reason they're marchinmarching is what happensn there are no headlines. senior alicia ponce diaz. >> i definitely felt like there was no one to turn to, no one to talk to about it or nowhere to report it, which i think is one of the crucial problems that the university has. >> reporter: the young man arrested at the university of missouri for make those threats, scott, is facing up to seven years in prison. >> pelley: anna werner reporting. anna, thank you. the next democratic debate is saturday, and today, a new cbs news/"new york times" poll has hillary clinton far ahead of bernie sanders, 52% to 33%. nancy cordes is on the campaign trail. >> reporter: clinton's 19-point advantage only tells part of the story. she leads among democratic women by 28 points, among older democrats by 41 points, and 76% of democratic voter says clinton has the best chance of winning next november compared to 18% for sanders. >> thank you, senator sanders. >> reporter: he excels, though, with younger voters. sanders has a six-point lead among democrats under 45, even though he's the oldest candidate in the race. and democratic primary voters who consider themselves independents favor sanders by 27 points. >> you are not going to continue to have it all. >> reporter: clinton is seen as better equipped to handle an international crisis and to deal with gun issues. sanders has a slight edge when it comes to closing the gap between the rich and the poor, but she's seen as strong or the economy as a whole. >> we have to have an economy that works for everybody again. >> reporter: which republican would be hard toast beat next november? it was no contest, 31% of democratic voters said businessman donald trump, and he clearly feels the same way. >> you'll be happy to hear that head to head, i beat hillary very easily. isn't that nice? ( cheers and applause ) >> reporter: democratic voters are also worried about marco rubio and ben carson but not nearly as worried as they are about trump. and, scott, our politics may be polarized but a full three-quarters of the democratic voters we spoke to said they want a candidate who will compromise with republicans in congress. >> pelley: nancy cordes tonight. nancy, thank you. john dickerson will moderate that democratic presidential debate on saturday night. that's at 9:00 here on cbs. twitter is one of our partners for this debate, and so we invite you to tweet us your questions for the candidates using the hashtag #demdebate. donald trump's plan to deport 11 million illegal immigrants could never pass congress, according to the new republican speaker of the house. in an interview for "60 minutes," paul ryan said he couldn't imagine how that plan could ever happen. ryan told us that he's been in touch with the president often since he became speaker two weeks ago, and while he opposes mr. obama on many issues, they have found common ground. >> i think you can walk and chew gum at the same time. i think you can oppose the president on some issue that you fundamentally disagree with, but also work with the other party on issues you do agree with. that's what i've been doing. look, if we can find common ground, we can on highways, we will on funding the government. hopefully we can on tax policy. those are three things that will produce certainty in this country in the next few months. let's go do that. >> pelley: there was a time on capitol hill when the other guy had a bad idea. and now on capitol hill the other guy's a bad guy. >> yeah, i think that's right. >> pelley: how do you heel that animosity? it's jur job now? >> leadership by example is the way i look at it. i have friends on the other side of the aisle i have shown we can negotiate and compromise without compromising principle, that people with different ideas aren't bad people. they just have different ideas. somewhere in this we got into impugning people's character and motives if we didn't like their ideas. we've got to get back to just debating ideas and not impugning people's motives and character. >> pelley: sunday on "60 minutes" speaker ryan will tell us how he'd like to change taxes and social security, and his wife explains why she didn't want him to take the job. there was an outbreak of laser strikes on aircraft across the country overnight. laser pointers, sold at sporting goods stores, were aimed at planes and helicopters in 16 cities. here's kris van cleave. >> a laser was pointed at the pilot. >> reporter: three new york city news choppers became the story last night as they we targeted by people on the ground with dangerously bright green lasers the news crews directed new york police to the location of one of the incidents and two people were taken into custody. the f.a.a. says more than 20 aircraft were hit with lasers last night flying over city prz new york to california, michigan to kentucky. in dallas, three pilots reported laser sightings while on approach to land. last night is part of a record-setting surge of laser strikes on aircraft. as of the middle of october, pilots had reported more than 5300 incidents. that's nearly a 40% increase over all of 2014. in los angeles, it's enough of a problem that the l.a. police department's air support division equips its 83 airborne officers with special protective glasses. >> it's incapacitating for a few moments. >> reporter: l.a.p.d. pilot kevin cook has been hit at night while flying low over the city. >> you want to turn away from the light source. had it illuminates the helicopter you can't turn away from the light source. >> reporter: no one was injured in last night's incident. scott, it is a crime to shine a laser at an airplane punishable by a maximum of 20 years in prison. >> pelley: kris van cleave, kris, thanks. in utah tonight, a lesbian couple is fighting a judge's ruling to remove their foster baby. carter evans spoke with them. >> reporter: beckie peirce and april hoagland have just five days to hold on to the baby girl they've nurtured for months. >> knowing that, that's what we've done and it's been taken away from us is heartbreaking. >> reporter: the couple is legally married in utah and plan to adopt the child. but tuesday, according to lawyers present in the courtroom for utah child welfare agency, judge scott johansen ordered the couple to give up the baby for just one reason. >> he said he's seen studies that say children do worse in homosexuals homes than in heterosexual homes. >> reporter: the judge wouldn't tell you what studies he was troaferg. >> no, he told the lawyers to do their own research. >> reporter: hoagland and pierce say the judge also ignored employees from the baby's biological mother to grant them custody. they believe the judge, a bishop in the mormon church, is imposing his religious beliefs over the law. >> this is all about sexual orientation, not what is best for the child. >> he has no other grounds but that. >> reporter: child and family services say the couple passed rigorous background checks and state law is on their side, according to director brent platt. >> any legally married couple in utah can become ..ed as foster parentses, same-sex cowrnlings heterosexual couples. it's very simple, very straightforward. >> reporter: there's not much time. >> there's not much time at all. she's happy, she bonded and now you're going going to take that away from us. she has to start over. >> reporter: the couple is appealing the judge's decision, and child and family services is still trying to determine if it's even legal. we wanted to speak directly with judge cojo hanson but the court told us he is not permitted to talk about pending cases. >> pelley: carter evans in salt lake city. carter, thanks. did a mix-up by the maker of birth control pills lead to unwanted pregnancies? and a swarm of tornadoes leaves def station when the cbs evening news continues. nce and forget a. but the more you learn about your coverage, the more gaps you may find. 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>> you can't just start shooting anyone. didn't see a weapon on him. you know, i can't pick up my rifle and shoot him. >> reporter: so groberg, followed by sergeant andrew mahoney, rushed him. >> i dropped my rifle, grabbed him, and realized that at this point, he's got plates on his chest. >> reporter: a suicide bomber. groberg and mahoney threw him to the ground. >> when he blew up, his chest first blew up into the ground and took the impact which is probably the reason why i'm here talking to you here today. >> reporter: and why so many other soldiers who were there were in the audience today. but moments later, a second suicide bomber hiding inside a nearby building detonated his vest, and between them, the bombers killed four men, which made it the worst day of groberg's life. >> this medal that i will be receiving, i'd-- i'd turn it right back in right now, say no thank you. bring my guys back right here. >> reporter: that's what it feels like to be a war hero. david martin, cbs news, washington. >> pelley: and that's the cbs evening news for tonight. for all of us at cbs news all around the world, good night. all i can do is follow my heart. >> gwen watched his ex-nanny try to single white female her. >> smiling images of the alleged affair was exposed. >> it's what's coming up right now on "entertainment tonight." >> the nanny's family under siege. did she leave the country? >> "e.t.'s" intelligence on the stefani look alike as blake goes off today on those wild rumors. >> they're actually claiming gwen is pregnant. >> then sophia's dash to the wedding dress designer, joe t tux shop. >> also, dancing's nick carter, why our 35th anniversary throwback got a little emotional. >> i don't want to be that person there saying he die >> plus --

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