pass a test before you bring them into the office. >> i agree. the news is next. we will be back with more loca captioning sponsored by cbs >> o'donnell: tonight, president biden takes an action that no president has done before, as americans feel the pain at the pump. what it means for your next trip to the gas station. with inflation at its highest level in four decades, president biden's biggest announcement about oil. >> our prices are rising because of president putin's action. >> o'donnell: but will his plan help at the pump? we ask the experts as the dow has its worst quarter in two years. russia regrouping, president zelenskyy says ukraine is preparing for a new offensive as putin drafts more than 134,000 russians to his military. severe weather outbreak, 25 tornadoes and hundreds of

damaging storms across the south. >> we were lucky to be alive. >> o'donnell: tragic school shooting. a student dead in a middle school in south carolina. what we're learning tonight. chris rock breaks his silence for the first time since the ossl hear from the comedian, what he's saying tonight. >> house of your weekend? ( laughter ) eye on america, with small farms disappearing, the mental health ipact it's having on rural america. peanut butter recall, why skippy is pulling jars off the shelves in 18 states. and on the final night of women's history month, meet the doctor who is a role model to many. this is the "cbs evening news" with norah o'donnell, reporting from the nation's capital. >> o'donnell: good evening and thank you so much for joining us on this thursday night. well, tonight in an extraordinary move to help americans combating rising gas prices, president biden is going to drain roughly one-third of the oil reserve.

that is the largest release ever. this is only the fourth time this measure has been taken. it happened during the gulf war, after hurricane katrina and the 2011 libyan civil war. president biden will tap into 1 million bearls a day, but that's only a drop in the bucket when it comes to domestic oil consumption. the u.s. currently uses around 20 million bearls a day. americans aren't only seeing sticker shock at the gas station, the commerce department says people are paying high prices for food and other necessities. inflation is rising highest rate in 40 years. gas is up 47% from just a year ago and on wall street stocks tumbled to the close with all three major indexes falling more than 1.3% on the day. clearly, we have a lot of news to get to tonight and we begin with cbs's errol barnett at a gas station in bethesda, maryland. good evening, errol. >> reporter: good evening,

norah. tonight, president biden is offering g.s.a. customers like the ones you see behind me a wartime bridge as he describes it to get through the fuel intensive demands of the summer until u.s. production picks up this fall. be so much at play on the global energy market, there's no guarantee what you pay to fill up will come down. >> i say enough. >> reporter: tonight, president biden on an unprecedented effort to ease the financial squeeze for fuel, placing the blame for recent jumps in global energy prices squarely on russia's war in ukraine. >> our prices are rising because of putin's actions. there isn't enough supply. the bottom line is, if we want lower gas prices, we need to have more oil supply right now. >> reporter: mr. biden announcing several new efforts including accessing a third of the nation's strategic petroleum reserve until october. >> i would call it the mother of all strategic petroleum releases. >> reporter: oil analyst tom kloza welcomes the news citing

record prices not only for consumer gas by biproducts like jet fuel and diesel, impacting all corners of the economy, contributing to inflation. how long do you think it will take between this announcement and americans seeing the result at the pump? >> i think we get a little bit of relief here in april and may. >> reporter: meanwhile, drivers in m maryland and georga enjoy a so-called holiday from state gas taxes. >> i'm glad it's going down a little bit now. >> seems to be making an improvement. >> reporter: can connecticut drivers joining friday and other states offering reductions. patrick de haan of the fuel web site gasbuddy measured consumption jumps and says it's a warning. >> sheltering americans from the consequences of high price could induce more gasoline consumption and cause gas prices to go up more dramatically. >> reporter: experts explained to cbs that at this time to have year stations switch to a summer

blend of gasoline which costs more to produce, likely meaning more of this. >> i used to go where i wanted to go, now i have to go where i have to go. >> reporter: now, one thing to keep in mind is tax rebates if passed by states like california typically come out of any tax refund you would otherwise receive. in maryland, it's actually the station owners who get the tax holiday, but the state expecting the savings to be passed to customers. norah, there's no easy fakes to what continues to be an expensive problem. >> o'donnell: well said, errol barnett, thank you so much. well, after president biden wrapped up his news conference today, he actually made a point of returning to the room to address russian troop movements in ukraine, seeing this, saying he is skeptical putin will withdraw all forces from around the capitol of kyiv. the president noted he is beefing up forces in the donbas region. meanwhile, russian forlingses pounded the suburbs of kyiv today. the video of the aftermath is

graphic, we warn you. here's cbs's debora patta. >> reporter: body after body pulled from the battlefields of irpin', the human cost of war lining the road to theal and where russia suffered crushing losses. the enemy, they're just kids, this soldier says. they're like canon fodder. but vladimir putin is not done fighting. today, authorizing the draft of another nearly 135,000 new con sc marpol, the promise of humanitarian corridors to evacuate those trapped has yet to materialize. it cannot come soon enough. ukraine says 90% of residential buildings have been damaged. >> these are all rocket. >> reporter: that destruction is just from the russian missiles and rockets that have hit their target. the u.s. estimates up to 60% simply don't work.

>> every day we get messages from citizens who found unexploded artillery, says rescue worker yevheniy. this is a controlled explosion. yifny is part of an 11-man team whose job it is to extract and destroy unemployed ordinances. we risk our lives all the time, but someone needs to do this job, he tel munitions that have been falling in city centers, backyards and even in this kitchen. every one of these rockets that has been found that has not exploded means that lives have been saved. the horrendous loss of life weighs heavily on yevheniy and, with this war, he reckons they will have enough work to keep them busy for ten years. so much for russia's claim. it will drastically reduce

operations around kyiv. today it struck in the heart of the capital, and we can tell you we have been hearing air raid sirens, explosions in the distance throughout the day. norah. >> o'donnell: all right, stay safe, debora patta. thank you. well, it is going to be another night of dangerous storms across several states. the severe weather turned deadly early this morning and knocked down trees, power lines and damaged homes and businesses across the south. cbs's janet shamlian was in the storm zone. >> reporter: a powerful overnight storm in florida's panhandle killed two people in a mobile home, part of a system that has swept the south, leaving a trail of debris and destruction. >> everybody run out, get out. see it right there? ( siren ) >> reporter: across a dozen states, 25 reports of tornadoes, and almost 200 thunderstorms with punishing winds. power out to tens of thousands. and torrential rain. this is livingston louisiana.

>> we were lucky to be alive. i was just thankful. >> thank god. ful to be alive. >> reporter: tonight, downed trees and power lines in mississippi, and this harrowing story from alabama. >> i heard something coming and it just got louder and louder and louder, and then i heard this boom. seemed like the house just shook. ( siren ) in memphis, this massive tree fell on a row of apartments. marcus butler's home is just a few feet away. >> what happened? i just heard a loud boom, and i said, wow. so i came outside and, sure enough, there it was. going to take them a while to get this cleaned up. >> reporter: and tonight this is the type of damage we are seeing across the region, large tree limbs just snapped in half. and across the country march is on track to have almost double the number of tornadoes than it normally does. norah. >> o'donnell: wow, janet shamlian, thank you. well, to find out where the system is headed next, let's bring in meteorologist mike

bettes from our partners at the weather channel. good evening, mic. >> reporter: good evening, norah. for the third day in a row, more showers, thunderstorms and tornadoes. this is a virtual view of new york and central park, what it could look like later on tonight when storms roll in. we are the next target in the northeast. let's show you the high resolution future radar. plenty of storms across the northeast, extending to the mid atlantic. many of the storms could contain might winds in excess of 60 miles per hour and embed ed donders. everything should clear overnight but a calmer day headed for friday. the storms could extend to florida, hitting us in central florida including tampa and orlando and more storms could return for the weekend as well. the unfortunate thing, norah, is this -- we do it all again next week with heavy showers and thunderstorms across the south and the possibility of flooding as well. >> o'donnell: well, mike bettes, thank you. we want to turn now to some breaking news with another tragic school shooting. a 12-year-old student was killed and a 12-year-old crassmate is

in custody molg a shooting at a greenville, south carolina middle school, the school with us placed on temporary lockdown following the incident which took place 12:30 this afternoon. police are still investigating and do not yet know the motive. comedian chris rock made a much anticipated return to the stage wednesday night briefly addressing the smack in the face he got from will smith at the oscars. cam rat weren't allowed but there was audio. cbs's jericka duncan was in the audience. >> house of your weekend? ( laughter ) >> reporter: chris rock got a rock star welcome last night, a nearly two-minute thunderous standing ovation. ( cheers and applause ) after being slapped by will smith at sunday's academy awards, the 57-year-old choked up during last night's performance. >> i'm still kind of processing what happened, like, i --

( cheering ) -- so -- and i'm sure it will be fine. >> reporter: smith stormed the stage after a joke about his wife jada pinkett-smith. >> oh, wow! >> reporter: so has suffered hair loss in alopecia. new video shows her appearing to laugh seconds after the assault. fans we spoke to said rock handled it the right way. what did you think of the show. >> it was awesome. i knew chris wouldn't address it the whole show. >> reporter: the academy has started disciplinary proceedings aginst smith for violations of the academy standards of conduct. they also added smith was asked to leave the ceremony and refused. >> for them to let him stay in that room and enjoy the rest of the show and accept his award, i was, like, how gross is this.

>> reporter: comedian wanda sykes who co-hosted the oscars told ellen degeneres she is still traumatized by the incident. >> it was sickening. i physically felt ill. >> reporter: now, according to multiple reports, will smith was not formally asked to leave the venue, but ultimately the decision came up to the producer who allowed will smith to stay. as for chris rock here in boston, he will be performing tonight and tomorrow. the performances are part of his world tour aptly titled "ego death." norah. >> o'donnell: jericka duncan, thank you. in the last two decades, more than 100,000 small farms have disappeared across america's landscape and in tonight's "eye on america," we're going to take a look at the mental health impact it's having on the family farmer. cbs's jonathan vigliotti has one state's solution that's just a phone call away. >> reporter: most of dexter,

iowa's main stream is closed. for good. >> so you've got one, two, three, four, five. that's the emptying out of rural iowa is this, square mile by square mile. >> reporter: fourth generation farmer barb kalbach keeps track. so we're going to take this here. >> yes. >> reporter: on her drive to her husband jim's workshop. >> there was a family named lenecker that were big farmers. >> reporter: it's the aftermath, she says, of around 90% of small farms in the area shuttering, unable to survive shrinking profits, climate change and corporate farming. the cullbacks are -- the kalbachs are only a handful of one to have the farms left here. >> last year is terrible. you have to be great big or you might as well forget it. 500 acres won't do it. may as well have 2 $5,000.

>> reporter: many who remain barely hang on. >> call it a cries. >> reporter: which is why the minnesota department of agriculture launched a hot line to help. how many calls are you fielding a day? >> about 30,000 a year. some of the farmers call in the middle to have the night, 2:00 in the morning, in their tractor, trying to get the telling done because they know seeding has to happen, can you just talk to me, can you help keep me awake. >> reporter: the most urgent calls are directed to ted matthews. he once led fema's mental health response. >> when you get that first call from a new farmer, what do they say to you? >> the first call they're very timid, they're not sure whether they should have called. it's overwhelming how difficult things are in farming. there's not a minute where a farmer doesn't feel stressed. there's something always going on that could go wrong. >> reporter: according to the c.d.c., farmer suicide rates spiked 40% in less than two

decades. in minnesota, mathew says that number has started to drop, as more farmers call and connect. >> this idea that you have to get so bad in order to see a therapist is a foolish one. why wouldn't you want to be healthier? >> thank you for calling the minnesota farm and rural helpline. >> reporter: an essential lifeline in perk many's heartland, for "eye on america," jonathan vigliotti, cbs news. >> o'donnell: such an important lifelin. still ahead on tonight's "cbs evening news." a multi-state peanut butter recall. what you need to know. and why the new coach of the seton hall pirates is proud as a peacock. ♪♪ we all need a rock we can rely on. to be strong. to overcome anything.

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peacocks peacocks historic march madness run to the elite eight. holloway oorks former players joined the coach for one last huddle celebrating his big move. well, congrats, coach. up next, immediate the medical researcher who's saving lives and making history.

>> o'donnell: on this final day of women's history month, cbs's chief medical correspondent dr. jon lapook cut up with a medical researcher who has already made her own mark on history. >> reporter: dr. kizzzemekia corbett is celebrated for leading a team at the national institutes of health that helped developed the moderna vaccine against covid 19. it's women's history month and you've certainly made history regardless of gender. >> i haven't been able to bask in it, really.

there's still so much work to be done, so much science to be done. that is hard to really akn. >> reporter: now 36, dr. corbett caught the research bug as a teenager when she worked in a lab at the university of north carolina chapel hill. when you were growing up, were there role models for you especially scientists of color? >> the first scientist of color i met was when i was 16, and i like to say he actually is probably the reason why i am a scientist. that representation that i saw in him, it made me realize that i could do it. >> reporter: are there kids who have reaching out to you saying, hey, i want to be like you? >> someone presented about me during black history month, actually, in my niece's classroom and she said that's my aunt, and no one believed her, so i had to drop into her classroom. those are some of the most refreshing moments to have kids recognize and i can think of me as a hero, so to speak. >> reporter: and a role model, right? and a role model. >> reporter: a role model and

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i'm norah o'donnell in our nation's capitol. good night. >> judge judy: that's the dress that he made for you? >> yes, your honor. >> announcer: this bride was bursting at the seams. >> i kept telling him i needed spandex 'cause i'm a heavyset person. when i looked at it, i'm like, "it don't even have a shape to fit me." >> judge judy: she let you know that the dress had to have a little give to it. >> yes. >> judge judy: i just have to see. >> announcer: and after closer examination, this dressmaker still won't give an inch. >> my job first is to just take the measurements. >> judge judy: no, no, no, no, no. >> announcer: "judge judy." you are about to enter the courtroom of you are about to enter the courtroom of judge judith sheindlin. captions paid for by cbs television distribution wadell newman is suing dressmaker corey mckinney for the return of money he paid for a wedding dress and punitive damages. >> byrd: order! all rise! your honor, this is case number

180 on the calendar in the matter of newman vs. mckinney. >> judge judy: thank you. >> byrd: you're welcome, judge. parties have been sworn in. you may be seated. ladies, have a seat, please. >> judge judy: mr. newman, you want your money back from the defendant, who made a wedding dress for your wife. and the crux of your complaint is that not only it wasn't exactly what you wanted, or what your wife wanted, but that it was so poorly made that it didn't fit her. it wasn't a custom-made dress. >> that's correct, your honor. >> judge judy: not only do you want your money back -- you want a whole bunch of other nonsense, which you're not gonna get. you want aggravation and stress and the cost of the new dress because you didn't use the dress that the defendant made, so we're gonna restrict your claim to what you paid the defendant. >> okay. >> judge judy: now, how did you find the defendant? >> well, your honor, myself and my wife, felicia here, we got married july 30th of this past year. and we had been searching around for wedding dresses, and nothing that she had really liked. so friends of ours had instructed us about mr. mckinney's shop. >> judge judy: had recommended him. >> had recommended him to us.

>> judge judy: people who you