>> already done it. we're going to have the latest on what appears to be a double shooting in oakland. see you at 6. >> caption colorado, llc comments@captioncolorado.com >> pelley: tonight, news we've waited to hear for three years. new unemployment numbers are so surprising they may affect this election year. anthony mason and norah o'donnell are covering. n'u can't make this up: the u.s. navy rescues iranians held by pirates. david martin's on the story. it's been a year since the mass shooting and congresswoman wobrielle giffords is teaching doctors more about the brain. ben tracy's in arizona. and a postscript to the cold war, a missile silo goes condo. "on the road" with steve "artman. ve captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. ning >> pelley: good evening. if there is one number the

presidential candidates are watching as closely as the re fs, it's the unemployment g as. today the labor department reported the rate fell two- tenths of a point last month to 8.5%. hat's the lowest level since n ehree years. job creation picked up as well. the economy cranked out 200,000 new jobs in december, bringing the total for the year to 1.64 million new jobs. we asked anthony mason to tell us where all those new jobs are. .> reporter: december's hiring surge was led by the transportation sector, which ngded 50,000 jobs. most were messenger or courier positions and may only be seasonal. but the economy's overall gr growth-- 200,000 new jobs-- was wa best since september. what do you make of this number? >> it's a pretty solid number. >> reporter: economist julia coronado liked the gain in

uliafacturing jobs-- 23,000 of them. >> those are good jobs, good high-quality jobs. >> reporter: manufacturing has been an unexpected bright spot in the recovery. them. >> those are good jobs, good high-quality jobs. >> reporter: manufacturing has been an unexpected bright spot in the recovery. after shedding workers for a dozen straight years, manufacturers have added jobs the past two. in illinois, business at bison gear and engineering is up. >> probably 10% to 12% this year. >> reporter: c.e.o. martin swarbrick's company makes gearboxes and motors for everything from popcorn machines to treadmills. swarbrick has 250 employees and he's hiring. >> last year we hired just over 20 folks. this year we could be hiring about the same again. >> reporter: but, overall, economists expect only modest growth this year and warn there are still plenty of head winds out there. we here in an election year, does that affect hiring? >> it's not a good force on hiring. let's just say that. there's uncertainty about who's going to come in and what policies they'll put in place and how that will affect cost of employing people.

now extent that we might otherwise be building some momentum, it's probably serving as a bit of a restraining factor. >> reporter: the underemployment rate, which includes part-time workers and people who recently gave up looking for a job, fell again this month. but it's still at 15.2% and more than 5.5 million americans have been out of work for six months or more. >> pelley: anthony, i'm thinking about a story we did earlier this week about unemployed folks getting jobs, but they're making much less than they did before. >> reporter: well, in manufacturing for example, scott, the average weekly salary is pretty much where it was just before the recession. but, if you've lost your job and been rehired, typically you're taking a 19% pay cut. which on average means over the next 25 years you'll lose about $112,000 in income. >> pelley: 19%. anthony, thanks very much. despite these better numbers, it's still a long climb out of the recession. to keep all of this in perspective, remember, more than

13 million americans are still officially listed as unemployed. no one is more aware of that than one man who is working to keep his job-- president obama. and norah o'donnell is at the white house tonight. norah? >> reporter: scott, these unemployment numbers are the biggest impediment to president obama's reelection. remember, no president since f.d.r. has been reelected with unemployment above 7.2%. however, the trend lines are good with unemployment going down, so that's why the president said today now is not the time to put the brakes on. >> there are a lot of people still hurting out there after tesing more than eight million jobs in the recession, obviously we have a lot more work to do. >> reporter: the president credited his jobs agenda for reversing the job loss. he claimed 3.2 million new private sector jobs were created in the last two years and he said last year's payroll tax cut has helped.

>> and when congress returns they should extend the middle- class tax cut for all of this year to make sure that we could keep this recovery going. it's the right thing to do. there should not be delay. there should not be a lot of drama. we should get it done. >> reporter: and even if congress does get it done, there's a lot of analysts who say that may not be enough. even the president's advisors acknowledge that this economy is still extremely vulnerable to the instability in europe and also to the tensions in iran, which could drive up oil prices. and politically, scott, one of the president's senior advisors admitted to me that it's going to be very tough for the president to get reelected now that unemployment has been above 8% for the past three years. >> pelley: that's what republicans are counting on. norah, thanks very much. the g.o.p. candidates face new hampshire voters next tuesday, and here's a look at today's new poll there. mitt romney way ahead, but rick

santorum is coming on strong after his unexpected virtual tie with romney this week in iowa. santorum is at 11% now, but look at this: he had just 3% this past monday, january 2. the very conservative former pennsylvania senator is getting a lot of attention and dean reynolds is chasing his campaign in new hampshire. dean? >> reporter: scott, that's senator santorum behind me on the podium now and he's been talking up economic solutions here in new hampshire, but over the last couple of days, virtually evrywhere he goes he's getting questions about his social agenda and oppostion to gay marriage. >> thank you so much. >> thank you, nice meeting you. >> reporter: the senator rarely volunteers his views on homosexuality at campaign stops, but the crowds he addresses here regularly raise the subject. >> you say that gay men shouldn't be able to marry, adopt kids and be allowed to serve in the military.

>> i have a question, too, and it's about gay people. >> reporter: today in keene, new hampshire, a question was asked on whether gay people should be allowed to marry. >> it's discrimination to deny rights. i don't want to deny any rights to anyone. everyone has a right to live their life. that doesn't mean that they're entitled to certain privileges that society gives for certain benefits that society obtains from those relationships. >> reporter: for the record, santorum believes marriage should be between a man and a woman only. >> why? because i believe we are made that way. >> reporter: santorum also opposes abortion, including in cases of rape, and he spoke of the dangers of contraception or birth control as "a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be." those who raise the issues are mostly the young and sometimes it gets heated. >> so anyone can marry anybody else? >> yes. >> so, so anybody can marry anybody else? so anybody can marry several people?

>> no. >> oh, wait a minute, wait a minute. stop. now stop for... we're not going to do this. >> reporter: now, it may just be that he's in a different state. but it looks like the positions that helped santorum win over evangelicals in iowa have energized his opponents here in new hampshire. scott? >> pelley: new hampshire vote on tuesday. dean, thanks very much. it seems like there have been nothing but surprises in the republican nomination race this week, and looking ahead to the contest after new hampshire, former massachusetts governor mitt romney is ahead by a considerable margin in the first primary in the south, south carolina, two weeks away. a new poll shows a tie for second between santorum-- who finished strong in iowa this week-- and newt gingrich who did not. it happens once in a while in the newsroom, a story crosses the wires that makes you say "wow." it happened today when we got word that the u.s. navy rescued 13 iranian fishermen from

pirates in the arabian sea. and here's the best part-- david martin tells us the rescue ship was part of an aircraft carrier battle group that the iranians had warned to stay out of the region. >> reporter: the carrier battle group headed by the "stennis" was operating just outside the persian gulf when it received a call for help from this iranian fishing vessel which had been taken over by somali pirates. the "stennis" sent one of its escort ships, the u.s.s. "kidd," to the rescue. defense secretary panetta told bob schieffer on "face the nation" the u.s. navy would do the same for anyone. >> we get a distress call, as we did in this case, even though it came from an iranian ship, when the pirates went after them, we respond to those calls. >> reporter: 15 pirates had captured the fishing vessel several weeks ago and were using it as a base of operations against other ships in the area. joint chiefs chairman dempsey said they gave up without a fight. >> it was an unopposed boarding. i think, in the face of the

overwhelming combat power that was presented, the pirates made the right decision and surrendered. >> reporter: the somali pirates are being held aboard the "stennis" while the fishing vessel is back under iranian control. the iranian captain is quoted as thanking the navy. so far, no thank you notes from the iranian government. when last seen, the iranian crew was headed to port wearing u.s. navy ballcaps, but given the state of relations between the u.s. and iran they should probably take them off before they go ashore. >> pelley: tip of the hat to the navy. david, thank you very much. by the way, you can see more of bob schieffer's interview with secretary panetta this sunday on "face the nation." how singing helped gabby giffords find her voice again. a u.s. marine stands trial for killing unarmed iraqi civilians. and ice road trucker goes down. when the "cbs evening news" continues. cc1:

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he took that day was to protect his fellow marines. wuterich was leading a squad through a neighborhood in the hostile town of haditha. a bomb exploded, killing one of wuterich's marines, lance corporal miguel terrazas, and wounding two others. while searching for the bomber, the marines killed five unarmed men who drove up in a car, then they went house to house. in his only interview, on "60 minutes" in 2007, wuterich told us the marines rolled grenades into rooms when they heard rustling behind the doors. did you step in the room? >> i did glance in that room. >> pelley: what did you see? >> it was... you know, a... bodies. >> pelley: the bodies that you saw. can you describe them? >> ( sigh ). you know, initially you know... i can't initially.

i remember there may have been women in there. may have been children in there. >> pelley: and you recognized that? >> i did. >> pelley: as the squad leader, is it your responsibility at that point to say "cease-fire. let's not take another step. we just killed some women and children here"? >> my responsibility as a squad leader is to make sure that none of the rest of my guys died or got killed. and at that point we were... we were still on the assault.

so... so, no, i don't believe so so. >> pelley: eight marines were charged in the case, one was found not guilty. charges were dismissed against six others, leaving wuterich the last defendant in the haditha killings. pope benedict named 22 new cardinals today, including two americans: edwin o'brien, the former archbishop of baltimore and timothy dolan, the archbishop of new york and president of the u.s. conference of catholic bishops. dolan said "it's almost like the holy father has placed a red hat of the cardinal on the empire state building" the power of song. how singing has helped gabby giffords learn to speak again. next. s cc1: with exercise and ensure muscle health.

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>> pelley: this sunday will mark one year since a gunman in tucson turned a political event into a massacre. six people were killed and 13 wounded, including arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords. ben tracy, now, on what doctors have learned from her remarkable recovery. >> reporter: is gabby able to go outside and you guys walk around? >> she does this walk every day to the mailbox. >> reporter: mark kelly says he fell in love with gabrielle giffords in part because of how much she talked. >> with a name like gabby, of course, you're kind of stuck with that role. >> reporter: was there a moment you thought "she may never talk again"?

>> yeah, absolutely. right in the beginning, her trauma surgeon said "who knows how long she'll be in a coma. that could last forever." >> reporter: but less than a month after a bullet tore through the entire left side of her brain, giffords could say simple words like "toast," and in november she sent this audio message to her constituents. >> hello, this is gabby giffords. i'm getting stronger. i'm getting better. >> reporter: giffords still struggles to speak in sentences, but she has much less trouble singing. ♪ well good morning... >> reporter: so an important part of her therapy involves singing songs she knew before the shooting. the ability to speak is mainly controlled by two areas in the left side of the brain. but when we sing or listen to music, wide swathes of both

sides of the brain become active. doctors have learned putting words to melody stimulates memory and helps a damaged brain recover the ability to process language. >> and the idea is that that can maybe then be used as a proxy or as an alternative. just take away the music part and suddenly you're stringing words together in a sentence. >> reporter: dr. michael lemole was gifford' neurosurgeon. he says doctors used to think only the brains of young children could repair themselves. >> the ability for the brain to sort of rework itself does get more limited as you get older, but the old adage that the brain is pretty much unable to fix itself in adults, we're rethinking that. >> i will speak better. i want to get back to work. >> reporter: gabrielle giffords defied long odds by surviving her attack. now she's showing what's possible for a wounded mind. ben tracy, cbs news, tucson. >> pelley: ben mentioned the brain's singing center. well, research has found that it's overdeveloped in professional singers, which may explain why some of us sing opera and others can't carry a

tune. also on our minds today? researchers in britain have made a surprising discovery. the loss of memory can start as early as age 45. until now, most research on dementia has focused on seniors. this new study published today may lead scientists to take a closer look at middle-aged people. and here is the most memorable picture of the day. a tractor-trailer for target stores missed the mark and wound up in a frozen pond near minneapolis. the driver got out okay and a diver was called in to hook up the cables to haul the truck away, but it's still unclear what caused the accident. as condos go, you won't find many like this. it's kind of a prewar conversion. "on the road" with steve hartman is next. is next.

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it's unique. not so much for where it is as what it is. >> we've actually taken a weapon of mass destruction-- a nuclear missile silo-- and turned it into a 180-degree opposite. like a bank vault door. >> reporter: built into the underground silo, when finished, it will be the only condominium in the world capable of withstanding a direct nuclear attack. it will also be completely self- sustaining... >> there's 70 different types of plants we're growing in here. >> reporter: ...mimicking life on the outside as closely as possible. >> you're in the general store. >> reporter: the general store. >> so when you go to get your daily supplies, you have actually have the shopping experience. >> reporter: we have the carts where the wheel turns? >> we'll probably go with baskets. >> reporter: there will also be electronic windows that track your movement and change perspective accordingly. you can be in san francisco, outer space, whatever you choose. plans call for seven such

residences, one of which larry bought himself. in fact, he's already dumped his entire life savings into this hole. why? let him count the ways. >> terrorists, dirty bomb, pandemic... >> reporter: his worldview is shrouded with dark clouds. >> a comet strike or a meteor strike. >> reporter: i think somebody spent too much time on the internet. >> loss of the power grid. >> reporter: so this part of you is kind of a bummer. >> yeah, it is. the reality of it. >> reporter: not the reality of it. we don't know if it's the reality. >> it's not if they're going to happen, it's when. you're saying in my life span those things aren't going to happen. >> reporter: that's what i'm betting on. and if i'm betting if they do, you'll let me in. >> that's probably not a good bet. >> reporter: we could argue all day whether a cataclysmic quake or meteor collision is imminent, but one thing is for sure: sales figures here are not earth shattering. over the last couple years, he's been able to sell just two of the six available units, which is why larry has now broadened

his sales pitch. >> if you want to retire and you don't want your electricity bill to go up and you don't want your food bill to go up and you don't want to worry about insurance, have we got a place for you. >> reporter: of course, it won't be that simple, getting retirees to buy into the notion of home sweet missile silo. but larry is uncharacteristically optimistic on this note and confident that even if the world doesn't end it's not the end of the world. >> i've got a warm fuzzy feeling that things are going to work out well. >> reporter: but you don't mean for th

on a day we learned unemplot good evening, i'm allen martin. >> i'm dana king. on a day we learned that unemployment in the united states is at a three-year low, one bay area community is counting on a massive retail project to keep that momentum going. it's a major outlet mall in livermore right off the interstate of 580 complete with a number of high-end retailers. mark sayre on the economic boost that the city is hoping for. mark. >> reporter: this project perhaps one small snapshot of the national numbers. 400 people are employed right now with the promise of more jobs and for tax revenue still to come. as commuters go by on highway 580 one of the biggest recent economic projects for livermore and the tri-valley is taking shape in an empty field right next to the freeway. construction is well under way on the paragon outlet mall whh,