joining me is usa today contributor regina lewis. consumer worries. consumer sentiment measuring how you feel about the future declined a bit. people saying not so hot. not as good as i was feeling before because they don t think their homes are appreciating. this is on the heels of retail sales figures that came out. modest up ticks t keyword is very modest. boy, i hope it s the snow. everybody attributing the down tick in sales and sentiment to perhaps weather. itis going to put a premium on the march numbers where people are looking for it to turn around. looking for the snow to stop. how about work wanted. young people not participating in the work force, young people 16 to 19 years old, the lowest participation rate, below 30% since the post world war ii area.
taliban. well, living for one more year, president obama signing one year pre-vision in the counterterrorism law. the patriot act was adopted in the weeks after the 9/11 attacks and expands the government s ability to monitor americans in the name of national security and they would have expired without the president s signature. next stop for the toyota s president, beijing. expected to speak in china about quality problems. days after getting a grilling by u.s. lawmakers on capitol hill. more than 75,000 vehicles recalled in china because of gas pedal problems, toyoda says he plans to expand sales in china and will try to ease consumer worries and toyota s north american president will testify before a senate committee later this week. the white house named jewel anna smoot as the new social
sales in china and will try to ease consumer worries. meanwhile, toyota s north american president will testify before a senate committee later this week. this week, the supreme court again takes up the issue of gun ownership. the high court will consider whether the second amendment applies to states as well as to the federal government. it s widely believed the justices will say that it does. this case involves handgun bans in chicago and its suburb of oak park, illinois, oral arguments are set for tuesday. all evacuation orders have been lifted and flash flood warnings canceled in southern california after a winter storm passed without major problems. more than 150 homes were evacuated for fear of possible mudslides, that same storm bringing heavy snow to the sierra mountains in northern california, which was great for the local ski resorts, as you can see, but certainly caused problems for many drivers, some of those areas seeing more than a foot of snow. those are your headlines,