pelley is next. the latest news and weather are always on our website, kpix.com. captions by: caption colorado comments@captioncolorado.com >> o'donnell: tonight, lost in the system. a scathing report finds well over 1,000 veterans in need of health care at a single v.a. hospital weren't even on the waiting list. for others, long wait times were covered up so v.a. employees could get bonuses. nancy cordes has details. u.s. intelligence believes an american citizen linked to al qaeda has carried out a suicide bombing in syria. bob orr has that. ben tracy reports donald sterling now vows to keep the l.a. clippers. >> reporter: how long and how hard is he willing to fight this? >> to the bloody end. >> o'donnell: and michelle miller remembers maya angelou. >> i hope to speak directly to the hearts and minds of my fellow americans and say, "look at us. look at us."

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> o'donnell: good evening. scott is off tonight. i'm norah o'donnell. and this is our western edition. president obama is calling the latest revelations in the v.a. scandal extremely troubling. a report today from the internal watchdogs in the department of veterans affairs says more than 1,000 vets seeking care at a v.a. hospital in phoenix were waiting for appointments they might never get because they were never even put on a list. in addition, records were manipulated to show that veterans who got appointments waited an average of 24 days. the actual wait time was 115 days. and it's not just in phoenix. the report says the problems are widespread. nancy cordes is on capitol hill and has more. nancy. >> reporter: norah, investigators say they have

already interviewed dozens of v.a. schedulers, and some of them say they were encouraged by their managers to fudge appointment wait times, leaving some veterans in a kind of limbo. they couldn't escape. the scandal may have surfaced in phoenix, but the v.a.'s inspector general reports the problem is much bigger. inappropriate scheduling practices are systemic throughout the veterans health administration, the report says. investigators reviewed more than half a million e-mails and documents from up to 42 v.a. medical facilities. they uncovered a number of types of scheduling schemes designed to give the appearance of shorter wait times, key factor in bonuses and pay raises. in phoenix alone, investigators discovered 1,700 veterans who were waiting for a primary care appointment but had not been placed on the electronic waiting list, putting them at risk will being forgotten or lost. this afternoon, v.a. secretary eric shinseki announced "i am

directing that the phoenix v.a. health care system immediately triage each of the 1700 veterans to bring them timely care." but that wasn't enough for republican senator john mccain, who represents arizona. >> this issue has reached a level that requires the justice department involvement. these allegations are not just administrative problems. these are criminal problems. >> reporter: he also wants shinseki to step down, and today for the first time, some senate democrats agreed. colorado's mark udall, montana's john walsh, and north carolina's kay hagan who all face tough reelection in the fall urged shinseki to resign. the inspector general's office says it still needs to review charts and autopsies to determine whether any of these scheduling schemes contributed to the deaths of any veterans. but it says it has already identified possibly criminal and civil violations, nora, that it is sending over to the department of justice.

>> o'donnell: nancy cordes, thank you. president obama remembered maya angelou today as one of the brightest lights of our time. the author and poet, who died this morning at her home in north carolina, was age 86 and was also one of america's most prominent voices. "try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud," she said. "pursue the things you love doing and then do them so well, that people can't take their eyes off you." michelle miller tells us maya angelou not only said those words. she lived them. >> take your time. say it. >> reporter: maya angelou always told the truth as she understood it. once saying she was in love with the music in language. >> peace, my brother. peace, my sister. peace, my soul. peace. >> reporter: born marguerite ann johnson in 1928, she moved to

arkansas as a child to live with her grandmother. when she was seven, she was raped by her mother's boyfriend. she would not speak for five years, eventually turning the pain of that experience into her best-selling memoir "i know why the caged bird sings." >> this tune is heard on the distant hill by the caged bird sings of freedom. >> reporter: as a single mother, angelou pursued the arts. she moved to europe, then africa, before returning to the states and joining the civil rights movement. >> i know how people see their world. whites can see a world with no blacks. blacks can see a world with no whites-- that's very rare, if at all. asians can see a world with no latinos. or fat people see a world with no thin. and fat-- i can't, i won't live in that world. >> reporter: she became an actress, a movie director, a producer, and won three grammys.

>> she understood about sacrifice and about paying dues. >> reporter: jazz great and cbs cultural correspondent wynton marsalis worked with angelou in 2003. >> that type of intellectual power with that type of soul and feeling, with the type of fire and the type of gentle gratitude is a rare combination. >> reporter: angelou her poem "on the pulse of mourning" at president bill clinton's inauguration. >> the rock cries out to us clearly, forcefully, come. you may stand up on my back and face your distant destiny. >> reporter: in 2010, president barack obama awarded her the presidential medal of freedom. ( applause ) her final message posted five days ago on twitter read, "listen to yourself and in that quietude, you might hear the voice of god." >> i am the hope and the dream

of the slave and soul. there i go. >> reporter: michelle miller, cbs news, new york. >> o'donnell: my "cbs this morning" colleague gayle king was a personal friend of maya angelou. i know you knew her for nearly three decades. what will you miss most? >> yes, i do, i do, i do. we have been thinking about it a lot today, those of us who know her and love her. and i will miss most her voice and her conversation. norah, there wasn't one time that you spent with maya that you didn't feel better, you didn't want to be better when you left her house. oprah and i were there last month, she was working on what now turns out to be her last book about encounters and she read part of the book to us and her voice was so deep and so resonant. i was talking-- i talked to family numbers morning. she went to bed last night. she was laughing and joke yesterday. she was making plans for a 4th of july party. and, you know, she was fine at 5:00 in the morning, and by 7:00

she was no longer with us. she had no intention of leaving- - we all knew this day was coming, norah, we just didn't know it would be today. she had been fragile for so long so we were expecting it, but not today. >> o'donnell: why do you think her voice resonated with so many? >> because maya used to always say we as human beings are more alike than we are different and people felt that. she didn't care your color. she didn't care your class. she didn't care where you came from or what you knew. she just cared about you as a human being and i think that resonated with a lot of people. they were inspired by her strength and her confidence, and what she wanted for women, in particular, and how she wanted us to feel. >> o'donnell: gayle king, thank you. >> thank you. >> o'donnell: and one day after president obama laid out the end game for u.s. forces in afghanistan, he talked about america's role in the world after the war. delivering the commencement address at west point today, he said isolation is not an option but not every problem has a

military solution. tion is not an option but not every problem has a military solution. >> just because we have the best hammer does not mean that every problem is a nail. and because the costs associated with military action are so high, you should expect every civilian leader and especially your commander in chief to be clear about how that awesome power should be used. >> o'donnell: national security correspondent david martin has more now about what some are calling the obama doctrine and what it will mean for the u.s. military. >> reporter: the west point class of 2014, which had entered the academy in the middle of iraq and afghanistan, heard their commander in chief swear off fight anything more wars like that. >> but a strategy that involves invading every country that harbors terrorist networks is naive and unsustainable. >> reporter: but he went on to outline a strategy that promises to send them to a country every bit as foreign and remote as iraq and afghanistan, countries

like burundi, uganda and senegal, where american troops have already been training government forces. or chad and niger, where american drones have been flying surveillance missions, hunting for al qaeda affiliates and other radical islamist groups. >> i believe we must shift our counter-terrorism strategy to more effectively partner with country where's terrorist networks seek a foothold. >> reporter: sending american soldiers to train local troops has one major hitch-- countries in which terrorist groups take root are frequently run by corrupt, unpopular, weak, or incompetent governments. one example-- american efforts to train libyan government forces in the wake of the fall of muammar gaddafi have been put on hold as the country descends into an ark. instead of training libyan troops, u.s. forces are standing by aboard the amphibious ship "baton" awaiting an order to evacuate all americans from the country. another example-- u.s. drones

are helping the nigerian military search for those kidnapped school girls, even though the nigerian military has a history of human rights violations. still, it puts fewer american lives at risk, is much less expensive and is frequently done in secret, all of which makes it easier to sell politically. norah. >> o'donnell: david martin, thank you. u.s. intelligence believes an american citizen linked to al qaeda terrorists has carried out a suicide bombing in syria. bob orr has been looking into this. >> reporter: this picture on radical islamic web sites, shows a smiling bearded man holding a cat, but u.s. officials believe the man who called himself abu hurayra al-amriki is the first american suicide bomber to die fighting for al qaeda in syria. al qaeda affiliate jabhat al- nusra recently release this photo. the fighter on the right, wearing a suicide vest, appears to be abu hurayra al-amriki. the group claims he was killed sunday in an attack in northern

syria. this al qaeda video released monday shows a truck being loaded with bombs and a subsequent explosion at a government complex. >> reporter: al qaeda had promised an attack from an american. just last week, this english- speaking man with his face the f.b.i. says several dozen americans have gone to syria to join the fighting there. >> o'donnell: more than a year after an outbreak of salmonella linked to a california chicken company, new cases are being reported. 50 in the past two months. 574 since march of last year. the salmonella was traced to foster farms, which was allowed to stay open after the company made changes to reduce salmonella rates. classes resumed today at the university of california santa barbara. some students said it was a relief. others admitted they were

worried for their safety. on friday, three students were stabbed to death and three others shot to death by a man who later took his own life. 13 others were wounded in the rampage. will it be all-out war in ukraine? they're testing a new car that needs no driver. and what happened when a storm chaser got hit by lightning? when the "cbs evening news" continues. apples may fall, but the apples of your cheeks don't have to. defy gravity with juvéderm voluma®. the first and only injectable gel approved by the fda to instantly add volume to your cheek area. as you age, it's not just about lines and wrinkles your cheeks lose volume and can sag.

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to help support regularity. wife: mmmm husband: these are good! marge: the tasty side of fiber. from phillips. >> o'donnell: with ukraine creeping closer to civil war, russia's foreign secretary called for new talks to ease the cries. this week, ukrainian troops attacked pro-russian militias who tried to seize the airport in donetsk. scores were killed. charlie d'agata is there. >> reporter: three days of fierce fighting has left the people of donetsk in fear of an all-out war. >> we hear shootings. we don't feel safe. >> reporter: ulya is a lawyer and a mother of a five-year-old daughter. like many pro-ukraine people we've spoken with, she was shocked when street fighters tried to take over the airport and relieved to see the ukrainian's military rapid counter-attack.

>> reporter: you were happy. >> i am. >> reporter: the military finally did something about it. >> at least they realize that we need the protection. >> reporter: but more pro- russian reinforcements were seen arriving today, driving towards the front line, including one truck toeing an anti-aircraft weapon. in this neighborhood, they're preparing for war, cutting down trees to use as crude barricades and building sandbagged bunkers on street corners. rebel fighters are vowing to retaliate for their losses and they're convinced the ukrainian army is about to attack. >> reporter: and if they don't? are you ready for war?

>> reporter: today, president- elect petro poroshenko said his country is in a state of war, that crimea is being occupied by russians and there is no choice but to react quickly to fight who he calls terrorists who are shooting people, take over buildings and destroying law and order. norah. >> o'donnell: charlie d'agata, thank you. in south dakota a storm chaser got a little too close to the weather. ( explosion ) scott sheppard was hit by lightning as he shot video last night. the bolt sent dust rising and blew a hole in the ground. shepard was not hurt seriously. tonight, there is serious flooding. in the deep south a car was swallowed up in st. james parish in louisiana. houston has had more than six inches of rain in two days, and it's driven snakes into neighborhoods as they search for higher ground. we'll be right back. we'll be right back.

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and a 60 billion dollar budget deficit. that's what john perez faced when he became speaker of the california assembly. so he partnered with governor brown to pass three balanced budgets, on time. for the first time in thirty years. today, the deficits are gone and we've invested an additional 2 billion dollars in education. now john perez is running for controller, to keep fighting for balanced budgets. democrat john perez for controller. >> o'donnell: just when it appeared the battle over the l.a. clippers was neither an end, it isn't. owner donald sterling, who was banned for life for making racist comments, gave his wife permission last week to sell the team. but now, ben tracy tells us, sterling has decided to fight to keep it. >> his view is these charges are a sham. they're baseless. and he intends to vigorously defend himself. >> reporter: max bleacher is the

attorney for embattled clippers owner donald sterling. how long and how hard is he willing to fight this? >> to the bloody end. what rule did he violate? is there a rule in the n.b.a. that says you can't talk to your lover in her home? it's crazy. >> reporter: in a scathing 32- page letter to the n.b.a., delivered tuesday night, donald sterling wrote, "a jealous rant to a lover never intended to be published cannot offend the n.b.a. rules." >> do you think it's fair, donald? >> reporter: he calls the now- infamous recording of his racist remarks to his girlfriend illegal. >> reporter: sterling's estranged wife, shelley, owns 50% of the team and is trying to quickly sell it before the n.b.a. takes control. the clippers could sell for more than $1 billion. cbs news has obtained a document signed by the 80-year-old billionaire last week authorizing his wife to negotiate with the n.b.a. regarding all issues in

connection with a sale of the clippers. what is the point of going out and getting bids for a team you don't want to sell? >> i think a good businessman looks at all his options and alternatives, and that's what he's doing. so i'm not telling you he isn't going to sell. i'm telling you he is telling the world at the moment that's not his main concern. he wants to clear his name. we're seeing his ego return and emerge, and it's a good thing. >> reporter: but is ego a good business plan? >> maybe not. >> reporter: now, shelley sterling's lawyer tells us today of the deadline for people to submit bids to buy the clippers. if the n.b.a. terminates the sterlings' ownership of the team, that means the league gets to sell the team, but, norah, even in that case, the sterling would still get the money. >> o'donnell: ben tracy, thank you. from basketball to golf, tiger woods said today he will miss the u.s. open next month. woods, who is 38, is recovering from back surgery, he's already missed the masters.

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death, he's costing one community money. next weather talent appears at wx center with generic pinpoint filling monitor the take special sponsored 7-day graphic then we wipe to end (we dont see talent at the d >> o'donnell: you know, we all have the same words at our disposal, a dictionary full of them, but it takes a poet to spin them into gold as maya angelou did. we end tonight with some of her most famous words from the poem "caged bird" about the struggle for freedom. >> a free bird leaps on the back of the wind and floats downstream till the currents end. >> and dips his wings in the sun's rays, and dare to claim the sky. >> but a bird that stalks down his narrow cage can seldom see through his bars of rage. >> his wings are clipped and his feet are tied, so he opens his throat to sing. >> the free bird thinks of another breeze.

>> and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees. >> and the fat worms waiting on the dawn bright lawn and he names the sky his own. >> but a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams, and the shadow shouts on a nightmare scream. >> his wings are clipped and his feet are tied. so he opened his throat to sing. >> the caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still. >> and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom. >> o'donnell: the words of maya angelou. that's the cbs evening news. for scott pelley, i'm norah o'donnell, and i'll see you tomorrow on "cbs this morning." good n

your realtime captioner is linda macdonald. tonight, the battle lines are drawn with less than one week until the primary election, two powerful special interest groups dividing democrats in the state. >> new at 6:00 phil matier is following the money over in contra costa county. i have gotten those mailers, phil. i know what you're talking about. >> reporter: exactly, ken. from the secretary for schools in california to the assembly race here in the contra costa county, there is a fight between labor and business interests millions pumped in, in the last few days and in this case is the last year's bart strike is a big issue. >> a sacramento political consultant who profited from oil companies and developers,

that's steve glazer working for the special interests, not you. >> reporter: that pretty much sums up the tone of the hottest and ugliest stated assembly fight in california. it's right here in the east bay. it's between two democrats who represent two big interest groups, unions and businesses. >> these are ar targets. >> reporter: in the business corner political consultant and orinda city councilman steve glazer whose call for a ban on bart strikeses, and pension for public workers, has made him the enemy of labor in the state. >> they don't want politicians to call it as it is, which is it is wrong. >> reporter: in the other corner tim sobrante who has the backing of environmentalists, teachers and unions including the striking bart