weather on our web kpix doing don't forget to like us on facebook. >> pelley: tonight, violence explodes in one of europe's largest cities. there are many casualties as police storm a protest camp. charlie d'agata is on the breaking news. brutal weather leaves destruction across many states. vinita nair on the challenges ahead. a cbs news investigation. the remains of american service men go unrecovered. chip reid on the long wait of families. >> i'm bitter. i'm upset. i'm upset. >> pelley: and one of the most majestic animals of north america is vanishing. >> reporter: they set the goal at 20 minutes between darting the animal, harvesting the samples, and getting the moose back on its feet again. >> pelley: don dahler on the mystery of the missing moo mystery of the missing moose.

captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. this is our western edition. while russia is hosting the winter olympic violence is erupting next door, the former soviet republic of kiev. this is a live picture of kiev, a city of almost three million, where riot police are battling an estimated 20,000 protesters. the protesters are demanding closer economic ties to western europe, while the ukrainian government has been moving closer to moscow. today, thousands of police stormed the protesters' camp in kiev's independence square. tonight, it is chaos. casualty figures are unreliable but the latest official number is 20 dead, 100 wounded. katie stallard of sky television news is in kiev tonight. katie, would you mind just katie, would you mind just having a look behind you and describing to me what you see going on in the square?

in independence square as we speak. the fires are burning. there are remains of what were the protesters' tents. many have been camped out here for several months in what has been an overwhelmingly peaceful protest. there have been clashes elsewhere in the city, but this movement here in independence square, has been resolutely peaceful throughout. tonight, their tents are burning but they're gathering around the main stage. you can see is lit up in the center of this square. they are listening to political speeches. there are fireworks the protesters are firing out towards police lines. it is little defense. >> pelley: do you know what sort of weapons each side has been using? >> reporter: in terms of what each side will admit to. police say they are using stun grenades, that they're using tear gas, that they're using rubber bullets and we're certainly seeing water cannons. what the volunteer medics say

are being used, they say they treated three people with gunshot wounds they believe are caused by live weapons. the acting prime minister has said they will not use live fire on the protesters, but as i say, the protesters themselves and the doctors and medics treating them strongly dispute that. >> pelley: katie stallard of sky television news, thank you very much for being with us. this is the most violent day in three months of protests. charlie d'agata now on what this is all about. >> the trigger for today's violence was refusal by some ukrainian lawmakers to debate changes to the constitution that would have restricted the powers of president viktor yanukovich. thousands of antigovernment demonstrators flooded the square. it quickly descended into violence and mayhem. riot police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades. thousands of protesters fought

back with everything they had, hurling chunks of pavement, fireworks, and molotov cocktails. the trouble began in november when president yanukovich rejected an economic deal with the european union in favor of closer ties with russia. vladimir putin upped the ante by paying off billions of dollars of ukraine's debts. it opened a deep divide in ukraine, between those who believe they would be better off forging ties with europe and the united states and those whose loyalties lie with russia. it escalated until demonstrators finally called for viktor yanukovich to step down, culminating tonight in ukraine's bloodiest day since it gained independence from the soviet union in 1991. the crackdown is continuing tonight, scott. police have shut down the subway and closed off the roads leading to the square, but protesters

who are already there are still holding their ground. it's impossible to know what tomorrow will bring. >> pelley: charlie, we're just hearing from the white house that the vice president called the ukrainian president and urged him to pull back today. more on this on "cbs this morning" tomorrow. charlie, thanks very much. today, winter storm warnings went up across the cascades and the rockies, but to the east, the relentless pounding began to let up. here's vinita nair. >> reporter: commuters are welcomed back from their holiday weekend way miserable drive. parts of new jersey got two more inches of snow. freezing rain coated streets and hills in pittsburgh. at one point, traffic on the interstate was backed up 13 miles. this latest storm pushed snowfall in chicago and philadelphia this winter to more than 42 inches above normal. all that snow piled up on rooftops is causing leaks and collapses in illinois, indiana, and new jersey. we met roofer mark nejmeh in jersey city, clearing what he

calls ice dams. how much weight does snow like this put on a roof? >> you could have as much as 40- 60 pounds per square foot, maybe more. >> reporter: emergency roof inspections for students from 60 new jersey schools today. a rescue team pulled a man out from this collapsed carport in pennsylvania. bid from temperatures will reach well into the 40s from illinois to new england. it's a welcome change for homeowners trying to clear snow from ice-clogged drains, but the thaw could cause flooding. melting snow could produce half a foot of melting snow could produce half a foot of water in the midwest and four inches of water in the northeast. heavy rains are forecast for tomorrow, which could only add to the problems here in new jersey, scott. already, many of the storm drains are clogged with ice, and when that snow starts to melt, that there could be some flooding. >> pelley: 30 days to spring, vinita. thanks very much. tonight, a united airlines flight attendant is in the hospital. she is one of several people injured in severe turbulence last night.

flight 1676 was on its way from denver to billings, montana, when the boeing 737 dropped violently. one woman hit the ceiling so hard, a panel broke. the plane landed safely in billings. we got a fascinating report today on one of the president's top priorities. the congressional budget office looked at what would happen if the minimum wage was raised to $10.10. the report said that nearly 1 million people would be lifted from poverty. on the other hand, another half a million would lose their jobs altogether. nancy cordes is on capitol hill for us tonight. nancy. >> reporter: scott, republicans argued today this report from the nonpartisan congressional budget office is evidence that raising the minimum wage will lead to fewer jobs, something they say the economy just can't afford right now. democrats and the white house, on the other hand, chose to highlight some of the more favorable aspects of the report, like the fact that 16.5 million americans would see their wages

increase to $10.10 an hour, and higher paid workers could see a bump in their wages as well as a ripple effect works its way through the economy. the senate's democratic leader harry reid has said he plans to bring a bill to the floor for vote next month to raise want minimum wage, but even if that bill passes, scott, it could run into a roadblock in the republican-led house, where leaders haven't definitively ruled out voting to raise the minimum wage, but they're certainly not enthusiastic about it. >> pelley: we'll keep following it, nancy, thanks very much. the u.s. and the netherlands are tied for first in the olympic medal count, with 20 each. russia's right behind with 19. america struck gold for the first time ever in ice dancing, but did the judges get it right? mark phillips is our man in sochi? >> reporter: america's new darlings on ice, meryl davis and charlie white, finds themselves at the center of a judging controversy that's being called

skate-gate. sequins and sour grapes once again dominate olympic skating, not that it bothers them much. >> we don't sit back and wonder how the judges judge, because that's really not our role. >> reporter: they beat the previous gold medalists, tessa virtue and scott moir of canada. although a lot of people in the skating world wondered why. among the skeptics was the man who developed one of the events' required sequences in which the american pair, here on the left, scored higher. "i don't understand the judging," tweeted former finnish skater petri kokko, and frankly, neither does the russian coach who coaches both pairs. she told us today judging is a mystery to her, too. >> how judges decide, i think you have to ask judges. >> reporter: do you understand how they decide? >> um, i think you have to serious-- seriously you have to- - i don't understand what they're looking for. >> reporter: but judges don't

talk. they judge. often controversially. after the scandal of the salt lake games in 2002, when judges were caught fixing results, the system was changed, supposedly improved. for meryl davis, the u.s. pair are simply doing whatever it is the judges like. >> it's subjective and that's what makes our sport so unique and so special. >> reporter: yet the subjectivity of skating is exactly why it gets criticized. although scott moir of the canadian pair stopped short of saying the results are agreed before the skaters skate. >> it didn't go our way, but i don't think the judging was predetermined. it's just the way the cookie crumbled, i guess. >> reporter: the cookie crumbled the american way this time, but a sport which has tried to clean up its image, scott, apparently still has work to do. >> pelley: mar

government mismanagement may be leaving missing americans on the battlefield. when the cbs evening news continues.

>> pelley: we have a cbs news investigation tonight on the 83,000 americans who are still missing in action from world war ii through vietnam. a pentagon agency called the joint p.o.w./m.i.a. accounting command, is in charge of returning their remains, but we found the mission is being undermined. in 2012, they spent $100 million identifying only 80 of the missing. here's chip reid. >> reporter: army lieutenant robert fenstermacher died in 1944 when his plane crashed in belgium. his remains weren't recovered until last year. he was buried at arlington national cemetery in october. bob fenstermacher is his nephew. >> i think when we send an american to war and they're killed in action, it is clearly been the tradition of this country to bring them home. >> reporter: but fenstermacher's

remains were not found by the u.s. government. he was discovered by one of the private groups that have stepped in where the pentagon's joint p.o.w./m.i.a. command has failed. last year the government accountability office said the missing persons mission is being undermined by long-standing leadership weakness. congress ordered the pentagon to increase identifications to 200 a year. at jpac's headquarters in hawaii, we caught up with the commander, major kelly mckeague, brought in to meet the congressional mandate. >> it's going to take more time, it's going to take more resources. >> reporter: you're not going to make that deadline? >> we're not. >> reporter: was congress

unreasonable in making that deadline? >> i think congress did not understand, fully appreciate the complexity of how tough this position is. >> reporter: complex, he told us, because remains are often badly degraded and frequently there's no d.n.a. with which to make a match. lieutenant robert fenstermacher's remains were found by a private charity. mark noah is its founder. >> within an hour, we had found the first of the machine guns with matching serial numbers to the missing aircraft. >> reporter: noah, a commercial pilot, sells rides on antique warplanes to raise money for his search. >> i tell people i do this work for the souls of the missing and the families that they left behind. >> reporter: in 10 years, he's found several hundred remains, which he turns over to jpac's lab for identification. in 2013, he turned over 50 american remains from world war ii, found on the pacific island of tarawa. a jpac team there three years earlier recovered three. some supporters of mark noah say dollar for dollar he does a better job than jpac. is that fair?

>> i don't think that's fair from the standpoint mark is focused on certain areas, on certain cases. ours is a worldwide mission. >> i'm bitter. i'm upset. >> reporter: you're upset with who? >> jpac. >> reporter: deno zazzetti's brother, joe, died fighting on tarawa in 1943. what is the most frustrating part of this whole thing? >> answers. you can't get answers from the people you think you should have the answers. >> reporter: but with mark noah- >> with mark noah i get some answers and i know he's trying and i know he's accomplished something. >> reporter: you're 84 years old. you'd like to find him. >> oh, goodness, gracious, yes, and bring him back. and bury him next to my mother. that would make her happy. >> reporter: congress has increased jpac's budget by more than $300 million in the hope it will make good on the promise to bring america's heroes home.

chip reid, cbs news, arlington, virginia. >> pelley: americans are spending billions on college entrance exams. is it worth it? that's next.

>> pelley: tonight millions of high school seniors are waiting anxiously to hear if they've been accepted to college. most of them took the s.a.t. or a.c.t., but today a new study questions whether these entrance

exams are worth the trouble. here's bill whitaker. >> reporter: prospective students toured pitzer college today, a liberal arts college near los angeles. they stopped requiring standardized test scores from incoming students ten years ago. >> at pitzer, we basically did a study, and what we found was there was no direct correlation between academic success on our campus and the s.a.t.. >> reporter: that finding was at the core of a study at 33 colleges that do not require s.a.t.or a.c.t. test scores. they found there was virtually no difference in college preparation or graduation rates for students who submitted standardized tests and those who did not. standardized test william hiss is the study's lead author. >> the tests are largely a speed processing test. they're not an intelligence test, and there are many, many students who may be brilliant, may be very, very talented, but are not successfully measured by

speed processing. >> reporter: 3.5 million s.a.t.s and a.c.t.s the main standardized tests, were taken last year. just preparing students for the test is a $2.4 billion industry. rob franek, with the princeton review, one of the largest prep test companies said all high schools are different. colleges need a way to tell the good from the bad. >> the standardized testing in general for a long time have been providing that. >> last year 70% of the students we admit to the freshman class did not submit test scores. >> reporter: since dropping the test, pitzer has seen a 39% increase in application, 58% increase in diversity, and 8% increase in grade point averages at the college. bill whitaker, cbs news, >> pelley: we were surprised to elsewhere today that the most downloaded free app on iphones and ipads last year was not facebook or youtube, it was this

game called candy crush saga. taished the irish company that makes it filed papers to go public. it hopes to raise half a billion dollars selling stock. the rice is on to save the moose in minnesota. that story is next.

next on kpix 5 weather talent appears at wx center with generic

>> pelley: we end tonight with a mystery. a new report confirms the moose population in minnesota is declining sharply. 30 years ago, in the northwestern part of the state, there were more than 4,000, but tonight, there are fewer than 100. don dahler went along on a hunt for the moose and clues. >> she looks like she's been there a few days. >> reporter: the moose of minnesota are dying, and no one knows why. the state lost 50% of its moose population since 2010. >> we are probably going to be basing out of this spot. >> reporter: michelle carstensen of minnesota's department of natural resources leads a $1.2 million study. >> we used to have two significant moose populations in our state, one in the northwest, and one in the northeast, and the northwest moose population is pretty much gone. >> reporter: in the national forest, researchers and helicopters searched for the 1,000-pound animals. they brave the harsh winter conditions because the trees are too thick to see the moose in

the summer. we were along when they spotted a cow and her calf. a shot from a tranquilizer gun brought the female to her knees. it's very cold here. the wind chills have fallen to as much as 40 degrees below zero, not exactly ideal laboratory conditions for these researchers. they set goal at 20 minutes between darting the animals, harvesting the samples, and getting the moose back on her feet again. >> she's at 104.6 right now. >> reporter: the team worked quickly to take blood and hair samples and install a radio collar and g.p.s. a tiny transmitter was placed in the moose's throat to record its body temperature. >> that should work good. >> reporter: even though it's only the second of seven years of research, climate change is a definite suspect. >> hold on. >> reporter: average winter temperatures in northern minnesota have increased more than four degrees over the past 40 years.

scientists think warmer winters and longer summers may be weakening the heat-sensitive moose and giving wolves more time to hunt them. parasites also have more time to infect them. >> so we kind of race against time to understand what might be driving this and even if we can figure that out, having tools on hand to do anything about it is the next challenge. >> reporter: the researchers admit they may not come up with answers before all the moose are gone from minnesota. but what they ultimately learn may save the moose populations in the rest of north america. don dahler, cbs news, superior national forest. >> pelley: and that's the cbs evening news for tonight. for all of us at cbs news all captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

of living. good evening, i'm ken now at 6:00, firefighters and families facing a growing danger tied to our skyrocketed cost living. i am ken bastida. >> i'm elizabeth cook. that threat is highlighted by a devastating fire that leaves 15 people without a place to live tonight. flames erupted in the house in san jose with so people still inside. kpix5's len ramirez finds out how common it is for so many people to live in one small house. len. >> reporter: elizabeth, it only looks like a small house from the treat, but there's actually seven bedrooms back there. like a lot of homes in san jose right now, they are being converted and sublet to multiple families. that's not an ideal situation, but when something like a fire happens, it can be potentially

deadly. >> cell phone video of the house fire shows an out of control fire ball and what firefighters call a nightmare scenario. >> the biggest nightmare element is, you know, missing someone. >> captain doss says there were 15 people living in the home with 10 present at the time of the fire. >> when there are so many people in a home, it makes it very difficult to account for everyone in in. >> one pet dog was lost in the fire. all the other residents got out safely. buunt e ually dangerous situation for firefighters is becoming more common in san jose. one of the least affordable places to live in the nation. >> i think this is probably the worst i have seen. i have been involved inulol aid since 1989. >> housing attorney was talking about a trend caused by rising rents and the shortage of affordable housing. they say about so% of the houses in san jose have been converted into multiple family living spaces and says the number of people living in the home is going up.