with chris cuomo, kate bolduan and michaela pereira. >> happy new year! it's january 2nd, 6:00 a.m. in the east. >> 2014, january 2nd. >> you might still write a check on occasion and you need to put 2014 on the line. chris and kate are off. we're happy to have john berman and ana cabrera. >> i'd gladly sit in your seat, though. >> we all share these chairs. many of you are -- many of us aren't going anywhere for a while. a major storm is moving from the midwest to the northeast. it's going to bring the first significant snowfall of the new year. big cities are expecting pretty big disruptions. the city of boston has already declared a snow emergency. schools have canceled class for tomorrow. massachusetts is one of 18 states with some sort of weather, winner with weather advisory in effect. >> this is a big storm, folks. the impact already being felt with about 2,200 flights canceled since yesterday. leaving so many people in limbo

as they try to get home from their new years getaways. if the snow is not enough, the temperatures, they are low and they are going lower. taking a dive tonight. they're going to hover around zero in some spots throughout the weekend. we'll have full coverage of the storm this morning from where it's starting and where it's going. let's begin with ted rolands who looks cold in chicago right now. good morning, ted. >> actually, john, it's not that bad. it's hovering in the mid-20s and as you said, it's going to get much, much worse. it's a winter wonderland here. it started snowing new years eve and it has not stopped. throughout the night, snow continuing to pile up in chicago. millions from the midwest to new england will be impacted by the new year's first major snowstorm, bringing with it blizzard-like conditions and dangerously cold temperatures. some parts could see more than a

foot of snow. >> it seems like it's been snowing since winter got here. >> reporter: boston already declaring a snow emergency and planning to close public schools on friday. more thonn a thousand flights canceled on new years day. the massive winter storm wreaking havoc. >> stay off the road. >> reporter: monday than 200 spinouts reported in minneapolis alone as ice blankets the roads. frigid temps complicating rescue efforts in the twin cities as firefighters had to be rotated in and out of the front lines of this raging apartment fire. >> our nozzles have a tendency to freeze up. >> reporter: in upstate new york, lake-effect snow is the story, more than two feet of the white stuff on the ground already. >> it was hard on the businesses last night because people had reservations to go out to new years eve and they couldn't get out. >> reporter: the deep freeze will have parts of the country feeling temps well below zero.

>> too cold. >> reporter: if you think that's cold, take a trip up north to winnipeg, canada, where the temps hovered around 40 below zero, colder than the surface of mars. >> this storm is something else. >> reporter: and michaela, the storm is continuing. the biggest problem in chicago at least for today in the next few days will be the roads. it just keeps coming. player plowing but the snow keeps coming. at o'hare they're seeing flight cancellations, people traveling home for the holidays going through o'hare may feel the brunt of this. >> as pretty as it is, we know it can make getting around near impossible. let's talk about the forecast in terms of what you can expect from this snow dump. how much snow can you expect on your door step tomorrow morning? jennifer grey, we've sent her to boston. it wasn't cold enough in times square, we sent her into the heart of it. a lot of snow there. tell us about the forecast for the next couple of days. >> yes, michaela, that's right. snow already in boston. not much of it, though. we did get a blanket of snow.

you can see about an inch or snow piling up on the cars. it's very, very powdery. this is going to be the concern as we go through the next 24 to 36 hours. you see how fine it is. it's very, very dry. what we'll be dealing with is that blowing snow and those winds start to kick in, that's what creates those blizzard-like conditions, the whiteout conditions and that's what folks are really concerned about. we are seeing snow on the radar already, everywhere from the midwest. you see the swath that's going through new york, upstate new york and even boston. that's what's creating the snow this morning. it's bayesically phase one, these two areas of low pressure will converge, cause rain to the south, snow to the north and we are talking about huge amounts of snow is expected to intensify as we go through the late evening hours into tomorrow morning. that's going to be the worst of it. and we're talking about anywhere from a foot of snow in boston, 6 to 10 inches of snow in new york, maybe 1 to 3 inches in

washington, d.c. of course, temperatures are going to be a big factor as well. with temperatures in the single digits and blizzard conditions, long island and the cape. now included in that. we could see winds of 45 miles per hour with about a quarter mile visibility or less. look at those winds. we could be gusting at 32 miles per hour in boston this evening as we go through tomorrow, the winds will start to die down just a little bit as we get into later in the day. but it is going to be a mess here in boston. folks are just urged to stay indoors. the wind chill is going to be in the single digits as we go through tomorrow morning and most of the weekend, john. so we'll be here, start to finish and we could see quite a wintry mess up here in the northeast. if you're traveling, good luck. >> good luck. you make it sound so pleasant, jennifer. it's in boston, they've given up in boston, cancelling school for friday. they did that yesterday.

they're planning ahead. jennifer grey in boston. thanks for being with us. appreciate it. the long awaited rescue mission for 52 passengers on the ship in antarctica, that rescue mission is happening right now. the research vessel has been stuck in the deep ice since christmas eve. since then, three ice breakers have failed to reach the ship but now it is all systems go for a helicopter rescue. cnn's poppy harlow with the latest. they're on their way out. >> good for them. we got a tweet from professor chris turney. he said we made it to the aurora australia safe and sound. thanks to the chinese and everyone else for their hard work. good for them. 48 of the 52 passengers made it safely to the rescue ship but the stranded passenger saga not exactly over. they estimate it could take until mid-january for them to finally get back to australia. rescue efforts are finally a go.

>> the helicopter to take us home. thanks, everyone! >> reporter: by air and sea, teams are commencing a complex operation to air lift the 52 researchers and journalists stranded aboard a research ship off the coast of antarctica. the ship stuck since christmas eve in ten feet of ice. >> if all goes well we'll be off in about an hour's time. >> reporter: stranded passengers seen here stomping on the snow and ice, arm in arm, preparing a landing zone for the chinese rescue chopper. the helicopter will transport 12 passengers at a time, flying them to the australian ice breaker "aurora australia." they say it could take at least five hours and seven flights to get the passengers with their luggage and equipment. the stranded research ship's 22 crew members will stay aboard. in the last week, three ice breaking ships failed to reach

the stranded research ship. those missions unsuccessful because of bad weather and ice. >> the wind is quite intense, not ideal for helicopter operations, unfortunately. >> reporter: being trapped at sea for more than a week didn't put a damper in ringing in the new year. >> five, four, three, two, one! >> reporter: breaking out in song. ♪ we're still stuck here >> reporter: they shared their cheer all the way across the globe with anderson cooper and kathy griffin in times square. >> just a little bit of champagne, i think, actually. just a little bit. >> we don't want to tell tales but there has been alcohol on the ship. >> reporter: and the bbc just reporting that all of the scientists and journalists, all 52 are safely off that ship. you know, the crew will remain on board. the master of the ship said they have plenty of food, supplies on

board, originally intended it feed 74 people for a long time. it will tie over the crew of 22 until they can make it out. good for them. i might be raising my hand to get on the chopper. >> i've been more worried than they have. they've been smiling and partying. >> they had three attempts with the ice breakers to get through. that didn't happen. days and days of trial and failure with the helicopters. i'm glad. >> mind over matter, proves what that can do. >> they'll be okay. they're off. >> thanks, poppy\. >> sure. a surprise editorial "new york times" in the is sure to stir up controversy this mornin editor -- cnn's athena jones is in honolulu where president obama is taking his holiday break. any response to this. >> reporter: no response from the white house to this yet. but in that strongly worded editorial from "the new york times,"ette editorial board says

edward snowden was a whistle-blower and says it's time for the u.s. to offer mr. snowden a plea bargain or some form of clemency. snowden's revelations about the nsa's tracking of americans' phone calls and even listening in on the calls of world leaders like german chancellor angela merkel sparked an uproar here at home and abroad and sparked this debate we've been having about privacy. "the new york times" writes when someone reveals that government officials have routinely broken the law, president obama should tell his aide today's find a way to end mr. snowden's develop fiction and give him an incentive to return home. that special panel that was appointed by president obama has recommended major changes to the way the agency operates. >> athena, we know the president

has heard these calls for amnesty for snowden before. what was his response in the past? >> this is interesting. the president was asked about this right before he left for christmas break. you'll remember he had that press conference right before leaving to come here to hawaii. he addressed this issue. he was asked about rick leggit. he told cbs news it's worth having a conversation about granting snowden amnesty as long as snowden would stop additional aliks. the president didn't respond directly when asked about this but he said as important and as necessary as this debate about privacy issues that snowden's revelation sparked, as important as this debate has been, it's also important to keep in mind that snowden's revelations have done unnecessary damage to u.s. intelligence capabilities and u.s. diplomacy. he said he'll leave it up to the courts and the attorney general to weigh in on the specifics of mr. snowden's case publicly.

michaela? >> eager to hear how the president reacts to this. thank you so much for that. former first lady barbara bush remains in a houston hospital. the 88-year-old reportedly suffering from a respiratory issue. doctors have not released exact details on her condition or when she might get out but well wishes are pouring in from, as you can imagine, all sides of the political aisle. alina machado has the latest. >> reporter: we still don't know what is the diagnosis or what prompted barbara bush to go to the hospital in the first place. what we do know is that she's been there since monday. and has received visits from her husband and her family. barbara bush, the matriarch of the bush family is back in the hospital, recovering from a respiratory related issue. a family spokesperson is saying, quote, she is in great spirits and is receiving fantastic care at methodist hospital in houston, texas. it's the same hospital where her husband, and former president

george h.w. bush spent almost two months battling abron kits related illness in 2012. >> i have known barbara bush since 1969. that is 44 years. having known her as i have, i have total confidence in her, period, exclamation mark. >> reporter: this is at least the fourth time the 88-year-old has been hospitalized in recent years. she had heart surgery in 2009 and was hospitalized for abdominal pain in 2008. she's also been dealing with graves disease, an auto immune disorder that affects the thyroid since 1988. her husband suffers from a form of parkinson's and has been seen using a wheelchair or scooter to get around. she hasn't slowed down. here she is in july in the white house. and just last week she spoke at a ceremony honoring a houston philanthropist for his volunteer

work. >> you deserve every bit of it and much, much more. all houston, all of texas is grateful to you. >> reporter: well wishers are flooding social media, bill clinton tweeting, i'll be rooting for barbara bush's full recovery while she's rooting for baylor." >> barbara bush is a tough old gal who will outlive us all but our love is with her because she's not just the former first lady of america, she's the first lady of our hearts. we know that she'll pull through. >> president obama is also sending some good thoughts. he released a statement saying in part, michelle and i send our best wishes to mrs. bush for a speedy recovery. barbara is blessed to have both a loving, supportive family by her side and a vibrant spirit that we hope will have her feeling better soon. michaela? >> thank you so much for that, alina.

we add our well wishes as well. let's turn to ana cabrera for the headlines. secretary of state john kerry headed back to israel this morning. he'll meet with prime minister benjamin netanyahu as hetries to persuade the israelis and palestinians for peace. americans are now receiving health coverage under obamacare. even after the botched launch in october, more than 2 million people have signed up. though it's still unclear how many of those have actually paid to ensure their policies take effect. some conservative groups are still moving forward with challenges to parts of the law, notably the requirement for companies to provide birth control or face penalty. the family of jahi mcmath facing yet another obstacle. the children's hospital in oakland is unwilling to allow an

outside doctor to fit jahi with a breathing and feeding tube that the family has requested. now, the macmath family has been receiving advice from a family who's been in their shoes, the terri schiavo foundation is trying to help move jahi to another facility. check out what heavy rains have been in hawaii. what a mess. a huge sink hole has opened up on the big island. it swallowed a truck that you can see there. the driver is okay. she managed to climb out through the window. but these rains have set records in some places, triggering landslides as well. fans are remembering an iconic tv dad, james avery who played phillip banks or uncle phil on "fresh prince of bel air" died tuesday following complications from open heart surgery. he was 68 years old. avery had dozens of other roles in other tv shows as well, including "l.a. law" and "grey's

anatomy." >> an accomplished stage actor. a good man. really good man. he'll be missed. thanks, ana. coming up on "new day," open for business. legal recreational marijuana shops in colorado have people from all over lining up to purchase pot legally. but will the supply be able to keep up with demand. and speaking out, the stars of "duck dynasty" saying they're looking forward to getting back to work in 2014. but family patriarch phil robertson is still raising eyebrows, another of his comments now sparking controversy. can't take a sick day tomorrow. [ coughs ] [ male announcer ] so he can't let a cold keep him up tonight. vicks nyquil. powerful nighttime 6 symptom cold and flu relief. ♪ [ bell dings ] [ coughs ]

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20 minutes after the hour. welcome back to "new day"." colorado's marijuana retailers are open for business. that business is booming. people lining up to score some of the first licensed recreational weed. demand is far outstripping supply in many spots. casey wian is in denver. casey? >> good morning, michaela. all these marijuana plants you see surrounding me are being grown for a business called evergreen apothecary. that's where we saw consumers buy recreational marijuana legally for the first time in colorado history. this married couple rang in the new year by waiting outside the evergreen a ppothecary at 2:00 the morning, six hours before

recreational marijuana sales started in colorado. why was it important to be first in line? >> we're pioneers. >> some 800 people took a number at this store. >> this is going to be og kush and sweet tooth. >> the first legal deal was done. it's been a long time coming, since sale of alcohol resumed after the end of prohibition 80 years ago, marijuana has been on the target list of authorities. "reefer madness" a movie. colorado first allowed medical marijuana in 2000. it took 12 years before voters approved amendment 64 legalizing recreational pot use and sales over the opposition of the state's governor. >> this is the forefront and to be a part of history and to prohibition has ended.

>> reporter: colorado residents age 21 and over can purchase up to 1 ounce of marijuana. out-of-staters can buy a quarter ounce. >> i'm excited. i've been dreaming about this since i started smoking. >> reporter: there are other rules, no taking marijuana out of state. no consumption in public and the main concern for law enforcement, no driving stoned. >> if someone is drinking and driving, they're driving too fast or aggressively, if you're under the influence of marijuana you're likely to be slow. but frankly we've had medical marijuana in colorado for about 13 years. we're used to dealing with people who are driving and consuming marijuana. >> reporter: for new recreational retailers, the biggest concern is demand exceeding supply and possibility of shortages and higher prices. >> candy-like taste to it. >> reporter: here it's already going for $50 per eighth of an ounce. and despite those high prices, demand definitely outstrips supply. and time yesterday as we

mentioned in that piece, more than 800 people took numbers to get their recreational marijuana, evergreen apothecary was able to service about 425 of those folks. the other 400 are going to be lining up outside the store, we expect, later today. in terms of the long-term supply, the owner of the company says he expects that he will have enough to service all of his customers. these plants about 60 days away from being ready to be sold. other distributors say they're very concerned about the supply drying up and prices going even higher. michaela? >> history being made in colorado. one would argue, too, probably the first time casey wian has done a live shot from a sanctioned area selling marijuana. >> as far as we know. >> as far as we know. we don't know that for sure. casey wian, thank you so much. no sampling the merchandise. from pot time to money time now. are we saying this to chrysler?

>> chrysler is no longer going to be an american car company as we know it. fiat says it will buy what it doesn't already own for $3.6 billion. this agreement comes 4 1/2 years after the obama white house brought fiat in to keep chrysler in business, as part of a packaged bankruptcy proceeding. the first day of trading in the new year. i want to take take quick minute to go over dow milestones for 2013, the dow gained 3,472 points. whoo! or 26%. for the fourth quarter, the months from october through december, the dow gained 1,147 points or almost 10%. just for the month of december, the dow gained 490 points or 3%. those are big numbers. speaking of big, big donors were feeling particularly generous last year with their favorite charities. facebook's mark zuckerberg made

the biggest donation, $990 million. mi nike's phil knight gave $500 million and michael bloomberg gave $350 million to john's hopkins. >> every lit bitle bit helps. >> you'll be back. we'll talk other interesting topics, target and snap chat as well. >> yes. >> coming up next on "new day," millions of snapchat and skype user names have been hacked. at least partial phone numbers have been leaked online. the question is could the company have avoided being hacked? moving forward, the stars of duck dynasty saying they're ready to move past the controversy but what did patriarch phil robertson say this time that has a lot of people up in arms? so ally bank has a raise your rate cd

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welcome back to "new day." we want to get back to our top stories. millions getting ready this morning for a brutal blast of winter. we can't underscore that enough. 2004 is getting under way with blizzard warnings, snow emergencies and wind chills well below zero. meteorologist jennifer grey want to feel it for herself. boston could get as much as 14 or 15 inches of snow. >> it's true. you know, their average for this month in january is about 12 urchls. they could see more than their average for the entire month with this one storm. in fact, folks in boston already

waking up to a blanket of snow on their cars. it is so fine, you can see, i mean, it's very, very fine. this is the concern as we go through the late evening hours into the morning hours tomorrow, very, very heavy snow is expected, very gusty winds. we could see winds 35 to 45 miles per hour per hour. when you have snow like that, winds as strong as 30 and 40 miles an hour, that's where we could possibly see the whiteout conditions. it will be dangerous. visibility down to less than quarter mile in places like boston. there's blizzard warnings in effect for the cape as well as long island. temperatures now you bet it is cold. 7 is what is feels like here in boston with the actual temperature about 19 degrees. as we go through the next 36 hours or so, we could see a foot of snow here in boston, 6 to 10 inches of snow possible in new york city. then as you travel down to the

south, around washington, d.c. or so, we could pick up about 1 to 3 inches there. look at these wind chills for tomorrow morning. in boston could feel like 15 degrees below 0. that's the wind chill, actual temperatures will be in the single digits for the next couple of days across much of the northeast. we finally start to warm up. i use that term loosely. we're talking about the 20s by the end of the weekend. so the winds will also be a problem as we mentioned tonight into early tomorrow morning is when we're expecting it to be the worst. we're going to see winds about 35 to 45 miles per hour and gradually improving as we get into the afternoon hours tomorrow. it is going to be a major headache for folks trying to travel over the next couple of days. in fact, schools here in boston, much of them already closed for friday. >> make your plans to stay inside and do nothing right now. think ahead. >> especially because she talks

about the fact that it's only going to warm up to the 20s. the snow that falls will stay. it will make for a messy weekend to begin with, too. >> the snow so fine, like michaela pereira. >> wow. he is too much. our john berman. >> a lot of other news happening this morning. so fine, ana cabrera is here as well. >> i have fine news, breaking news this morning but it is good news. all of the passengers stranded on that ship in antarctica have been rescued. a helicopter air lifted a dozen passengers at a time early this morning from that research vessel as they had a brief break in the weather. 52 scientists and tourists dropped off on an ice floe next to an australian ice breaker, a small boat will take them to the bigger ship. the ice breaker will take them to tasmania, which will arrive mid-january. there's a possibility they

could find some bodies inside this building. it exploded, catching fire yesterday. look at the fireball. at least 14 were hurt, 6 critically. officials say some people jumped from third floor windows to escape. the fire chief says it's still unclear how many tenants could be missing and there's no word yet on what caused the blast. in north dakota, federal investigators say they have found a broken axle at the scene of monday's train crash but they're still not sure if it caused the derailment. several cars loaded with oil caught fire, creating a huge, thick plume of black smoke, leading to evacuation of hundreds of people in that area because of fears of toxic fumes. no one was hurt. authorities plan to interview the train crews today. elaine church opened a christmas package and realized there was a second box enclosed that wasn't for her. when she went to see who it was

from, you can see the names sasha and malia obama. the first daughters sent photos of the first family to their godmarriage but it got dropped off at the wrong home. church says she will put it in the mail for the godmother today. a heartwarming story out of maryland, a mom and dad welcoming twins born a year apart. one was born in 2013, the other in 2014. lorraine was born at 11:58 p.m. on new year's eve and her twin brother, brandon was born three minutes later at 12:01, right after ringing in the new year. the couple already has an 18-year-old son. they say they're happy the big brother has a chance to be an uncle someday. a happy new year for that fam y family. how fun is it that the two kids who are twins have their own birthdays. >> likely the boy was the first baby of the new year at that hospital.

>> 12:01. most likely. >> welcome to the magical world of multiples, folks. >> you have twins, that's right. >> good luck. all right. the folks at "duck dynasty" say it is time to move on. star phil robertson was suspended last month for his comments that a lot of people saw as anti-gay and racially insensitive. last friday his nine-day suspension was lifted and he missed a grand total of zero days of filming. now, in a new interview, his son says it's all in the past, even as some new comments have come to light that have raised a whole lot of eyebrows. cnn's pamela brown joins us now. >> good morning to you. this is another controversy for the network and for the family to address, just a few days after a&e lifted its suspension of "duck dynasty's" phil robertson, the star is ruffling feathers once again, this time for an online video that shows robertson suggesting it's a good idea to marry teenage girls. phil robertson, the patriarch of

"duck dynasty" is starting out the new year with a new controversy. a video has surfaced of robertson from 2009 in which he advises men to marry women at a very young age. >> you wait till they get to be 20 years old, the only picking that's going to take place is your pocket. you have to marry these girls when they're 15 or 16. >> reporter: robertson married his own wife kaye when she was just 16 and he was 20. >> what is the tipping point to get it kicked off the air? the answer thus far is nothing. there are more and more people who are watching the show and more and more people who are buying their products to show support. >> reporter: the family has been the center of a media firestorm, since comments robertson made in an interview with "gq" magazine in which he discussed his opinions on african-americans and gays, describing home me ii

homosexuality as not natural. robertson issued an apology. after a flurry of online support, the network reinstated him to the show, saying they decided to resume filming "duck dynasty" later this spring with the entire robertson family. phil robertson's son willie addressed his father's initial comments on fox news, during its new year's eve coverage. >> i think we learned a lot. we're just ready to move on. the family is happy and we're ready to go. >> a lot of this may have come down to money. with 14 million viewers per episode, "duck dynasty" is a&e's top-rated show and "forbes" magazine estimates their endorsements and merchandise brought in $400 million in 2013. >> ultimately it comes down to audience. the advertisers and the interest groups are all going to follow what the audience says. what the audience has said thus far is we like the guy. >> and cnn's attempt for comment from a&e and the robertson

family about that latest video were unsuccessful. a lot of the show's fans say they're not surprised by the various videos that have emerged since the show from the start has been about robertsons as a back woods louisiana family. >> i predict it's not the last we've heard of it. >> are there more videos out there. >> yes. >> we shall see. we'll take a short break. here up next, hacked. two popular social media platforms have been targets of a massive security breach. millions of users personal information have been leaked online. the family of an nfl player who killed his girlfriend and himself has filed legal documents in a wrongful death suit. hear why the family says the team -- the team -- is to blame for the killings. ah. everybody knows that. did you know there is an oldest trick in the book? what? trick number one.

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welcome back, everyone. a massive security breach reportedly affecting millions of people at two popular social media sites. i'm talking about snapchat and skype. business correspondent alison kosik is here with what you need to know. alison, let's start with snapchat. >> 4.6 million users accounts were hacked into, we found this out by snapchat db, meaning data base, web info. we hacked in and got your phone numbers and user name and if anyone wants to download all this information, we've got it for you. that's basically what was presented. why are they doing this? snapchat db saying security and privacy should be of utmost important to snapchat. this group feeling that's not

happening. basically this group trying to raise awareness that snapchat needs to close these gaps in security. >> they say the company was too reluctant to patch the exploit until they knew it was too late. it was more like a red flag saying this is what's going on, we're capable of hacking. >> meanwhile at skype, a similar situation or a different kind of hack? >> there was a different kind of hack. this was done by the syrian electronic army. it said it hacked into skype's social media account. it hacked into twitter and facebook posting messages. and this is a group that's attacked cyberattacked the bbc and "the new york times" in the past. this was apparently linked to the revelations in the past year from edward snowden, that skype was part of the nsa monitoring service, quote, spying on americans. skype is owned by microsoft. what this group wound up doing was posting information of steve ballmer, the retiring chief executive of microsoft.

it posted his contact information but then went ahead and went on facebook and twitter and said skype is monitoring your accounts and selling the data to government. skype came out saying the following in a tweet, you may have noticed our social media properties were targeted today. no user information compromised. we're sorry for the inconvenience. these two things really bring to light just how easy it is to register on to sites like this and how easy it is for hackers to get in. so it makes you think twice. >> can users trust that what they're saying, your information has not been compromised, can they trust that? >> i don't know if they can trust it. if the hackers can get in once, i think they can get in twice. >> alison kosik, thanks so much. a lot to think about. >> let's do that over the break, think about it or snapchat each other? >> there wie go. the family of an nfl player who went on a deadly rampage is suing his team why they say the team is to blame for the killings.

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what a game it was. michigan state capping off a dream season, winning the rose bowl yesterday. it happened late, beating stanford in the 100th edition of the granddaddy of them all. andy scholes joins us with "the bleacher report." >> the spartans surprised a lot of people. with this win over stanford, they proved they belong among the elite football programs of the country. the game was tied in the fourth quarter until connor cook found tony lippette for a 25-yard

touchdown, putting michigan state up by seven. their top rated defense did the rest on fourth and one for stanford, the spartans come through with a huge stop. check out ellsworth flying in for the tackle. mark dantonio was able to sniff out that gatorade bath. here, this player flips in for the score. the best part about it, the reaction from his mom in the stands. she looked a little scared. more than 105,000 tickets were sold for yesterday's nhl winner classic at the big house in ann arbor, michigan. this could be a new world record. they have to count how many people went into the game before calling it a record. either way, it's impressive considering the conditions. the gametime temperature was 13

degrees with a wind chill of negative 1. play was stopped twice in the first period so crews could shovel snow off the ice. fans to this one were treated to extra hockey. the game went into a shootout, the maple leafs beat the red wings, 3-2. this was all about being at a game outside, 13 degrees, snowing. >> reminds me growing up in canada. you have to shovel the ice rink off before you can skate on it. i didn't play, trust me, you didn't want that. happy new year to you, andy scholes. >> thank you. another sports story, serious one. the mother of javon belcher who shot his girlfriend and took his own life last december, the mother has filed a wrongful death suit against the team on tuesday claiming that belcher was suffering from concussion-related injuries when he went on a rampage. >> we all know that concussions are serious health issues in the

nfl. we know that it's a financial issue in the nfl with a big settlement right now. >> huge. >> the question is, is this now also a legal issue the way this mother is saying? what kind of case does she have? t. could be, john but it's problematic for a number of reasons. let's start here. you're looking at four things, duty, breach, causation, damages. what does that mean? did the team owe him a legal duty? of course they did. did they breach that duty. >> that's going to be litigated and was their breach the cause of his death? that's damages to the last portion. here's the problem. even if you could establish it's this cte, chronic traumatic brain injury that they're alleging that he may have had, they're going to exhume the body. they're going to make a determinations so to whether he had cte but even if he did, could you say that that was the result and that's what caused him, right, to engage in this behavior which is, of course, to tragically kill his girlfriend and then himself. were there other alternatives

that that would be likely? there were reports he was arguing and that led up to this. they are reports that they had domestic violence relationships. the toxicology report said he had over twice the legal limit in missouri of alcohol in his system. were the alternative reasons having nothing to do with the cte. that's the issue. >> she's going after the team, not a league. saying that the team did specific things, took specific actions forcing him on the field. >> right. that's always a question of fact. and in the event that they did, john, the other issue is you assume the risk to some degree when you play football. everyone knows it's a violent and dangerous sport, so as a result of that, people are compensates, world-class athletes are compensated very well as a result of putting themselves in harm's way. and so "a" was the team on notice as to any injuries that he suffered? "b" if they were on notice, did

they alert him to the fact that there were any risks or dangers and as a result of that did he play nonetheless? there's a lot of questions here. >> we just saw the class action lawsuit in august. >> sure. >> would that have any effect on this case? >> i think it has the effect to the extent people are on notice. the nfl, there's a concussion-related issue, there's the issue of whether or not when you're playing for the nfl, are there safety measures appropriately in place? i think people are sensitive to that issue. will it directly affect it in terms of issuing an award. >> the tone will be there. >> exactly. it's a lawsuit that's fraught with difficulties because of the causation issue. was it the cte that led to mr. belcher engaging in the act of killing his girlfriend and then turning the gun on himself. >> the issue of concussions has been something we've been talking about for a long time. perhaps if nothing else, this helps to create a safer environment maybe in the long run. >> that's always a very good

issue, because there's always policy reasons behind lawsuits as well. it's not about money but it's about protecting the next person. you're hard pressed to know, if they do find, they're exhuming the body, they'll do the study and say, remember, he shot himself in the head. was the brain properly preserved? did anything cause injuries, maybe the nfl takes appropriate measures, more so than they're doing now to protect their players. >> thank you. >> pleasure and privilege. must see moment. we've been talking about some of the woes u.p.s. has been having. a few hospital workers got quite the show when a wild turkey stalked a ups driver. it was fedex. my bad. that's fedex. the driver tried to get away

from the bird -- it was a u.p.s. driver hiding behind a fedex truck. another driver came to the rescue and chased the turkey away. >> the turkey did not give up. obviously a problem with overnight delivery for that turkey. >> pay backs. >> exactly. next up for us on "new day," blizzard warning, snow emergencies. what a way to start the new year. we'll have the latest on the storm that millions of people are now facing. plus, he was declared legally dead a year ago but the fbi had a hunch, a banker wanted for fraud was still alive. guess what, their hunch was right. [ female announcer ] stress can make your mind spin all night.

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seems like it's been snowing since winter got here. >> happening now, a monster storm bearing down on the midwest and northeast. 2,000 flights already canceled, more than a foot of snow in major cities. but the subzero temperatures that follow may be even worse. breaking overnight, finally -- i mean finally -- rescue operations have begun in antarctica, passengers aboard that stranded ship being helicoptered out. but their journey to safety is just beginning. we're live with the latest. back from the dead? the bizarre story of an allegedly swindling banker who was thought to be dead but has now turned up alive. you will not believe how they got him. your "new day" starts right now. >> announcer: this is "new day" with chris cuomo, kate bolduan

and michaela pereira. good morning, welcome to "new day," the 2nd day of january, 2014. 7:00 in the east, chris and kate are off but john berman and anna cabrera are here with us today. this new year is already off to a bitterly cold start. look at these expected lows yourself for tonight. the cold is half the equation. it's the major snowstorm that is the rest. >> massachusetts, 1 of 18 states with some sort of winter weather advisory in effect. boston has already declared a snow emergency. canceled school for tomorrow already. people trying to get home from their holiday getaways could be stranded now. more than 2,300 flights canceled since yesterday. most of the snow is expected late tonight into tomorrow. we have full coverage this morning beginning with ted ro rowlands in a snowy chicago. good morning, ted.

>> good morning, john. we have been getting hammered. it started snowing new year's eve day and it has not stopped. throughout the night, snow continuing to pile up in chicago, millions from the midwest to new england will be impacted by the new year's first major snowstorm, bringing with it blizzard-like conditions and dangerously cold temperatures. some parts could see more than a foot of snow. >> it seemed like it's been snowing since we -- winter got here. >> reporter: boston already declaring a snow emergency and planning to close public schools on friday. the massive winter storm already wreaking havoc. >> stay off the road. >> reporter: more than 200 spinouts reported in minneapolis alone as ice blankets the roads. frigid temps complicating rescue efforts in the twin cities as firefighters had to be rotated in and out of the front lines of this raging apartment fire. >> our nozzles have a tendency to freeze up if we don't keep

them flowing water. >> reporter: in upstate new york, lake-effect snow is the story, more than two feet of the white stuff on the ground already. >> it was hard on the businesses last night because people had reservations to go out to new years eve and they couldn't get out. >> reporter: the deep freeze will have parts of the country feeling temps well below zero. >> too cold. >> reporter: if you think that's cold, take a trip up north to winnipeg, canada, where the temps hovered around 40 below zero, colder than the surface of mars. >> this storm is something else. >> reporter: and michaela, the biggest problem with the snow, the roads. crews have been out 24/7 trying to clear them but it just keeps coming. michaela? >> yes, it does. that's the thing about snow, right? thanks so much, ted. how much of that snow will you be shoveling over the next day or two? let's get to jennifer grey in boston where the snow is expected to fall, maybe more

than a foot. braving the snow and cold to bring us this report. >> reporter: more than a foot of snow possible in boston. we've been getting fine mist of -- a little snow mist if you will, earlier this morning, the flakes are starting to get a little bit bigger. it is so dry and the snow is so fine, i want to show you, folks in boston waking up to snow. look at this. it is so powdery, you can't even make a snowball out of it. it is very, very fine. this is what we'll be dealing with, some type of snow. as we go through later this evening into tomorrow morning, expected to worsen dramatically as we get into the evening hours. already seeing snow across much of the midwest. as you saw in that report, it has been a mess and that is all moving in this direction. we have basically an area of low pressure out in the midwest and then one to the south. they're going to converge, rain in the southeast for today, snow in the north. we are talking about a lot of it. it is really going to pick up as we get into the late evening

hours, into tomorrow morning. so what we'll be talking about, possible foot of snow here in boston as you travel down to the south, around new york city. we could get 6 to 10 inches of snow. d.c., 1 to 3 inches of snow. we're talking about snow in pittsburgh, in philly. all of the major cities in the northeast. we also have blizzard warnings in effect for long island as well as the cape. and we are going to be talking about very, very cold temperatures as well. the winds also a factor. we'll see winds about 35 to 45 miles per hour. guys, that's what we'll be talking about with the snow, it's so fine, the worry is going to be that blowing snow, it's going to cause whiteout conditions. when you have winds of 45 miles per hour or more, so as we get into the evening hours tonight, folks should really just stay inside, not to mention it is freezing out here. >> yes. absolutely. jennifer, thank you so much for that. cautionary tales for sure. >> a problem well into tomorrow.

breaking news now. the safe rescue of scientists and tourists trapped on that ship in antarctica, the successful air lift began this morning. helicopter ferry be a dozen passengers at a time from the ice bound ship. they've been stranded there since christmas eve. all earlier rescue attempts failed. they tried by sea, they tried earlier by air. nothing worked. now they seem to be okay. poppy harlow jones us now. >> rescue is complete, all 52 passengers stuck on that stranded ship in antarctica, for more than a week, transported safely to an australian ice breaker but their trip is far from over. they estimate it could take until mid-january for the passengers to finally get back to land. >> reporter: rescue efforts by complete. >> thanks, everyone.

>> reporter: by air and sea, teams successfully ended a complex operation to air lift the 52 researchers and journalists who were stranded aboard a research ship off the coast of antarctica. the ship stuck since christmas eve in ten feet of ice. >> if all goes well we'll be off in about an hour's time. >> reporter: stranded passengers seen here stomping on the snow and ice, arm in arm, preparing a landing zone for the chinese rescue chopper. the helicopter will transport 12 passengers at a time, flying them to the australian ice breaker "aurora australia." they planned for the mission to take at least five hours and up to seven flights to get the passengers with their luggage and equipment. the stranded research ship's 22 crew members will stay aboard. in the last week, three ice breaking ships failed to reach the stranded research ship. those missions unsuccessful because of bad weather and ice.

>> the wind is quite intense, not ideal for helicopter operations, unfortunately. >> reporter: being trapped at sea for more than a week didn't put a damper on ringing in the new year. >> five, four, three, two, one! >> reporter: breaking out in song. ♪ we're still stuck here >> reporter: they shared their cheer all the way across the globe with anderson cooper and kathy griffin in times square. >> just a little bit of champagne, i think, actually. just a little bit. >> we don't want to tell tales but there has been alcohol on the ship. >> good for them. we were all waiting with anticipation for this to happen. we're told the rescue operation started around 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. eastern time today. took about five helicopter flights in total to bring all the passengers and their luggage to safety. as for the remaining crew, the master of the ship decided they're going to stay on board until they can get the ship out of there. they have plenty of food and supplies. good for them. i don't know if i'd stay. >> that's a lot of movies.

>> especially if you knew there was an option to go. that's the big question. >> we want to bring in alvin stone, he's on the phone, the press coordinator for the expedition to antarctica. thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> the spirits were very high, especially through the new year, but i bet they are glad to be heading home. >> there was pure joy when they saw the helicopter coming in to land. the moral has been high. i've been impressed, actually. >> talk about the rescue effort. did it go smoothly and without incident? >> it changed quite a bit. the initial plan was actually to fly them to the chinese ice breaker and take them by barge to the aurora australia.

they had to come up with a plan b. they managed to set up a helipad on the ice floe beside the australis. >> the australian maritime authority is saying they won't be home until mid-january. can you explain why it will take that long. >> originally the australis was down there to unload supplies at casey station. they only got halfway through when they got the alert to help. one they loaded the passengers, they had to go back to casey station to unload the goods. we're looking mid-january at best, i would think. >> we know the 22 crew members will stay aboard the ship, hoping the ice will clear or they can get through. were they given any more supplies? are you concerned about them at

all? >> not particularly. they have enough for the entire season. they have fresh food supplies and dry supplies after that. if they get a very strong westerly, it could break the ice up. this has all caught from a southeasterly wind that brought the ice across. i understand there's a very large russian ice breaker on its way that should be able to carve through that 3 meter thick ice with too much trouble. >> the hope always is that we learn from our lessons and experiences, yes? what do you think has been learned on this expedition? what do you think these scientists have learned? what do you think others who are in to doing this kind of research and exploration have learned? >> it's an interesting question. i think we'll probably know better after the expedition has got back to land and looked over everything. i've been thinking about that myself. surprisingly, i think it's a

case where preparation really counts. the fact that these guys prepared so well is why there was never any danger to the passengers. they were extremely unlucky to catch the blizzard that brought the ice across. it could have happened to any ship. so i think in terms of what we've learned, we'll have to see. but in terms of preparation is definitely the thing. i think that's guided them through this for the past week exceptionally well. as far as what i've learned, don't do this over christmas or your wife won't talk to you. >> alvin stone, perhaps the best lesson anyone has learned. i think there's a lot of people breathing a collective sigh of relief knowing these people are safe and sound. thanks so much for joining us, alvin stone, the press coordinator for the expedition there. thanks for your time. >> glad they're off even if it's

another two weeks before they get home. >> that's right. vladimir putin is vowing to tighten security across russia ahead of the winter olympics. this as russian police detained dozens of people in anti-terror raid raids. cnn's diana magnay is in moscow with the latest. good morning, diana. >> reporter: hi, john. that's right. it's called operation anti-terror operation whirl wind going in on volgograd. a lot of tensions, buildings being examined. vladimir putin came down there yesterday on new year's day to meet with the victims in hospital and also meet with the governor to talk about how to ramp up security. he said that he wants security heightened across russia but there is no need to improve security at the games itself. also making a very bold claim in his new year's address that he would annihilate the terrorists.

that's a big call. that means taking out large chunks of the north caucuses in dagestan, you have mountains riddled with extremist militant training camps. there is perhaps reason to say it would be difficult for the terrorists to target the olympics themselves. but they can as volgograd shows us, target elsewhere in russia and overshadow the games which is of course president putin's pet project. back to you. >> thank you so much for that. there are many other stories making headlines at this hour. ana cabrera is here with that. >> edward snowden is back in the news today as we take a look at the headlines. "the new york times" and the guardian both publishing editorials saying nsa leaker edward snowden should get some leniency. "the new york times" editorial board says snowden was justified in his actions and did the country a great service. it's calling on the obama administration to offer snowden a plea bargain or clemency so he won't have to live in fear or exile. no response yet from the white

house. former first lady barbara bush remains hospitalized this morning with a respiratory illness. the 88-year-old was admitted to a hospital in houston on monday after showing what appeared to be early signs of pneumonia. president obama who is vacationing in hawaii released a statement wishing mrs. bush a speedy recovery. the health of ariel sharon is said to be worsening. an israeli hospital says sharon's vital organs are failing. he's been in a coma since 2006. sharon is now 85. his family remains at his side. a helicopter will be sent out today to try to recover the body of a snowmobiler who died in an avalanche in montana. the undoid identified man in his 40s was in a group of three different snowmobilers who triggered the avalanche on wednesday afternoon, the others suffered minor injuries. this area was under an avalanche warning after 8 inches of snow followed rain on tuesday night.

for more years of ford? later this morning, rob ford will officially file the paperwork to run for re-election. he lost much of his mayoral power last month after admitting he smoked crack and some of his other antics have been keeping the late night comedians busy to say the least. he's been keeping a lower profile but did provide updates on that ice storm that slammed the city over the holiday. i don't know if you call it arrogance or stock to it-ness. up next, dead man busted. the fbi had a hunch that a banker wanted on fraud charge was not dead. now it looks like they were right. there's green in them there hills. how are marijuana merchants dealing with colorado's green rush? that's coming up, next.

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♪ i was gonna clean my room till i got high ♪ >> never thought i'd hear this song on cnn. wednesday, several recreational marijuana shops opened for business. look at the crowds. some shops struggling to meet demand. cnn's casey whien is in denver. casey?

>> reporter: good morning, michaela. these marijuana plants i'm surrounded by are destined for a place called evergreen apothecary. that's where we saw consumers buy recreational marijuana legally for the first time in colorado history. the average customer about 70 people a day. yesterday they had more than 800 people come to this door to take numbers to try to buy pot. they were only to service a little over 400. people will be lining up again today. for the business owners, it couldn't have been a better first day. >> it has been absolutely amazing. there are more people here than we ever expected. and there's so many excited people taking part in this that we knew it was going to be a big deal but we had no idea that there were going to be so many people out here.

>> reporter: now, that demand, despite relatively high prices. an eighth of an ounce of marijuana going for $50. that is triggering concerns that there might be a supply crunch down the road. these plants that you see here will be ready for the store's shelves in about 60 days. evergreen apothecary say they have another supply. they're not worried about running out but other recreational marijuana businesses here in colorado are not so sure, john. >> casey wian talking about the booming demand for pot there. we should say not everyone in colorado is happy about the legalized recreational marijuana. there are even serious concerns in one of colorado's biggest businesses, ski resorts. people wondering will people light up on the slopes. cnn's miguel marquez has that story. >> reporter: when you think of colorado, you think skiing, charm i charming towns and now legalized

recreational pot. marijuana coming to colorado, what does greeley think of that. >> they had a chance to turn it down and they did. >> reporter: it's the biggest town in weld county. >> what's the concern? >> we are guinea pigs. >> reporter: recreational sales in washington start later in 2014. weld county may have said no but there's a hold outhere, a tiny place called garden city. only a few blocks big expects recreational pot to be huge. >> what is it like to be the only place in weld county where this is allowed? >> it's, i guess i'm lucky. >> reporter: lucky to be one of four pot shops here. he expects to triple his business next year won sell recreational pot for a few months yet but the customers are already there. >> we're averaging about 50 to

75 phone calls a day. >> this is a family business. that's dad and mom, both in their 70s, trimming pot. they first told their son he was crazy, then they changed. >> he's my son and i'll do anything for him. >> reporter: but it's not just weld county wrestling with the potification of colorado. ski areas, often a tradition after lighting up on the lifts aren't turning a blind eye anymore. >> if i'm caught smoking pot on a chair lift, will my pass be yanked? >> i think there's a high likelihood of that. you can expect to have your ski vacation here and not be smelling marijuana smoke. >> reporter: as the centennial state takes a leap into recreational pot, there's uncertainty for some, a warning for others. what was ignored or looked past before, now zero tolerance. miguel marquez, cnn, greeley, colorado. next up on "new day," a big, shocking, high-profile call for

clemency for edward snowden. could the nsa leaker be beco eed back to the country? the bald eagle, a proud symbol of the united states, something in utah has been killing some of these majestic birds but now that mystery may be solved. we'll have the details, coming up. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust. i have a big meeting when we land, but i am so stuffed up, i can't rest. [ male announcer ] nyquil cold and flu liquid gels don't unstuff your nose. they don't? alka seltzer plus night fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a decongestant. [ inhales deeply ] oh. what a relief it is.

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welcome back to "new day." it is a new year. what a way to start the new year, blizzard warnings, snow emergencies and wind chill levels well below zero. that's what millions of you can

expect. look forward if you wills aa winter storm bears down on the northeast. jennifer grey is in boston. i understand folks there are looking at about 15 inches of snow. >> yes. we could see a foot, 15 inches in some locations. yes, this one is going to be a blockbuster. you know the month of january boston normally gets about a foot of snow. they can see more than that with this one system. we've had steady snowfall as we've gone through the morning. i want to show you the fine snow that's blanketing of boston. it is very, very fine. and the risk is going to be when this snow starts to blow around because we'll get winds of 35, 45 miles per hour as we go through the late evening hours into tonight, it will create whiteout conditions making driving almost impossible and it's going to ground flights. you can hear snowplows just off beside me. folks are trying to get ready and prepared for this storm.

we have seen incredible snow totals across the midwest. those snow totals are going to be incredible as we head to the northeast as well. already seeing snow, snow advisory, winter storm warnings and watches all across the northeast and even blizzard warnings for long island and even the cape. so what we're talking about, a foot of snow like we mentioned in boston. we could see 6 to 10 inches of snow in new york city. we could see 1 to 3 inches in d.c. those accumulations will be about the same in philly, pittsburgh, it is going to be a mess. look at those wind chills, some areas feeling like 40 degrees below zero. unbelievable, waking up. if you wake up on friday morning here in the northeast, places like boston could feel like 15 below zero. there are your three-day temperatures. it does not get much better. temperatures will stay in the single digits.

the teens all across the northern plains, the midwest around the great lakes as well. and so do plan on just a long 36 hours, guys, stay indoors. just snuggle up with some hot chocolate. it is going to be very snowy. definitely stay off the roads. >> we have time to prepare. that's the key. we know it's coming. so prepare, make a game plan. jennifer grey, great words of advice. >> prepare to snuggle. >> don't look at me. >> thanks so much, jennifer. want to get to ana cabrera who is here with the other day's stop stories. >> you guys hug and make up while i do the other news here. a helicopter air lifting 52 passengers from a ship that's been stranded in the ice in antarctica. they were taking toen aaustralian ice breaking ship. that ice breaker will carry them to tasmania, expected to arrive there by mid-january.

an earthquake hit southern iran, near lar. it's not clear if anyone was hurt or died or how bad the damage might be. former president of pakistan was supposed to be in court today. his lawyer tells cnn perez musharraf is in the hospital on doctor's orders. his trial will resume money. he's accused of treason for suspending pakistan's constitution and imposing emergency rule. that was in 2007. he says he was trying to stabilize the country. musharraf could face the death penalty. here's heartwarming news. an innovative new tool helping a paralyzed man in north carolina walk again. last december, a plane crash left brett hanford paralyzed from the waist down. he was told he'd never walk again. until he was given an opportunity to test this exo

skeletal device. >> remarkable. >> it's so positive for him and his family. >> oh, my goodness. >> thanks so much, ana. time now for our political gut check. the big one today. the edward snowden saga continues. a shocking editorial, i think, from "the new york times" arguing that edward snowden is a whistle-blower, the editorial says he's done a great service for the country. and this editorial says it is time for the white house to offer him a plea bargain that would allow him to return here to the united states. we're joined by cnn political analyst and executive editor of the daily beast, john avlon. you said one of the biggest issues for the president would be to come to terms with the surveillance state. >> yes. >> those were your words. it seems to be a bigger question, would it be something

he'd ever consider? would he consider granting edward snowden some kind of clemency. >> some kind of clemency, there's a lot of room in that statement. an absolution for what is objectively an act of treason, betrayal of oath, very unlikely a commander in chief will do that for edward snowden. given that he joined as a contractor, it appears with the intention of releasing these documents. however, edward snowden has been vindicated by two federal judges who call the current system of the nsa orwellian and likely unconstitutional. the real question will be what president obama decides to do with this nsa reform document given to him that he's been reviewing over the holidays. if he accepts the majority of those recommendations, that will be a de facto endorsement of some of what edward snowden

expressed concern about. >> "the new york times" may not be what it used to be 50 years ago, 30 years ago in terms of weight or force but there's glaring language here. when it says edward snowden has done a great service for the country, calls him a whistle-blower. when there's this statement, when officials have routinely and deliberately broken the law, that person should not face life in prison at the hands of the government. >> this is a strong statement by "the new york times" that puts them squarely in the snowden cample, the greenwald cam. there are different responsibilities that "the new york times" has and the commander in chief has, of course. i think it's a little early to say he's a latter day daniel ellsburg. he did not try to -- he sought asylum in countries that are not great allies of the united states and are not known for freedom of the press or much civil liberties at all.

there are still questions surrounding how ed snowden did what he did. but this shows, i think, a change of sentiment that you could see throughout 14 as the president may himself decide it is important to rein them in. we saw bill de blasio being sworn in as the newest mayor of new york city. much more liberal than bill clinton. >> oh, yes. >> talk about this connection and his embrace of de blasio's progressive stance. what does that mean? the optics of it. >> the optics are fascinating. bill de blasio is a bill clinton prote protege. he was picked to manage hillary clinton's campaign in new york state. he worked for andrew cuomo when he was bill clinton's hud secretary. philosophically it could not be more different. bill de blasio is largely

repudiating the -- of bill clinton. when he talked about the urgent issue of inequality, it was in dramatically different tones than bill de blasio. it's a utopian language and strident of liberalism that we haven't seen in decades. >> this is the way left in some cases. >> yesterday's speeches were not only ignoring the gains of the past 20 years and dissing michael bloomberg but very much about an ideological vision for leading the city of new york. a job of mayor which is not traditionally ideological. there's no democrat or republican way to clean up the streets. bill de blasio would seem to have a different opinion. >> we could have a whole discussion of what it could mean for hillary in 2016. let's save that for another day. >> i think there will be time for that question. >> i think there will be. back from the dead. this sounds bizarre, because it

is, an allegedly swindling banker was thought to be dead but hawes turned up alive. the surprising way that he was located. a mystery solved. wildlife officials in utah have finally discovered what caused the soaring number of deaths of bald eagles in that state. stay with us. fedex one rate. really makes my life easier. maybe a promotion is in order. good news. i got a new title. and a raise? management couldn't make that happen. [ male announcer ] introducing fedex one rate. simple, flat rate shipping with the reliability of fedex. healthy diets are hard on your teeth. the truth is a lot of healthy food choices are still high in acidic content. if your enamel is exposed to acid and is in a softened state and you brush it away, you know, then it's gone.

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welcome back to "new day." we'll tell you a bizarre story out of georgia. police have arrested a former banker who was declared legally dead a year ago. this is the man, aubrey lee price. he vanished in 2012 in what was believed to be an apparent suicide. he was wanted at that same time in a $20 million wire fraud case. wednesday price was pulled over for having a vehicle with tinted windows. you can actually see a before picture of him, before and after right there on your screen. >> wow. >> police knew right away he had a lot more to hide.

ana cabrera has this story. >> this story is interesting. >> intrigue. >> he was the director of the bank by the way. weigh was smart enough to fake his own death. he almost got away with it if it weren't for one single mistake. hiding in plain sight. aubrey lee price, wanted by the fbi for wire fraud vanished more than a year ago in an apparent suicide. nearly a year after he was presumed dead, he was apprehended in a traffic stop on new years eve. >> i cannot believe he had the nerve to hide out so close to home, number one. >> reporter: he's alleged to have embezzled $21 million from more than 100 investors between 2010 and 2012. prosecutors say instead of investing money held at montgomery bank and trust where he worked, he created a dummy company to funnel the funds through fraudulent wire

transfers and phony investmentses. before going on the run, price wrote a 22-page confession letter to his family saying he planned to kill himself off the coast of florida. the letter was the beginning of an elaborate plan to stage his own suicide. these photos show price dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, arriving at the key west airport, carrying a suitcase. >> he has a bag he's towing behind him. might be packed with investor money for all i know. >> reporter: surveillance video shows him at the ferry terminal. without evidence of a body, the fbi continued to look for him. that search ended on tuesday, thanks to a glynn county, georgia sheriff who stopped price's vehicle for having darkly tinted windows. the bold fugitive will now be brought to justice. he faces up to 30 years in prison. you've got to wonder, did his family know he was still out

there? they did fill out a missing persons report in 2012. police have a lot more investigating to do to get to the bottom of all this. >> yes, they do. we want to bring in hln legal analyst joey jackson. >> wow. >> are they going to be searching for any potential conversations, e-mails, texts, anything that ties him to family members or business associates? >> you better believe it. they're going to be searching for everything. the interesting thing about a federal investigation, generally by the time they catch up to you, particularly with a crime like this, there is a paper trail that's long and deep. that paper trail, particularly when we're talking about money and invests funds, there's a larger question here as well, did family members, friends know? the federal government will be going after everything with an eye on bringing him to justice. >> he with are with laughing about this, saying it's such an intriguing and fascinating

story. sounds like it's from a tv movie or something. why are they so aggressively going after this guy? is it the amount of money involved? >> it's an accountability question. whenever you're in the trust of investor funds, you're a fiduciary. the message needs to be sent that funds are safe. >> sure. >> you want to encourage investment. you want people to be secure and know that we have a government that's regulatory and they have an eye on what you do. and so if you allow this person to get away because he's faking his death, what message does that send to anyone else who would engage in fraud. >> he must know he allegedly did something seriously wrong because he went on to allegedly fake his death to get out of it. he's found not far from him. if you're going to fake your death, disappear. >> it's very true. not only do we know he's guilty for the reasons you mentioned but the 22-page confession letter speaks of culpability. >> how many years could he face?

>> we're talking about 30 years. there are federal guidelines that dictate how long you should spend in jail. a lot of that has to do with the amount of money you engaged in the fraud. i think they're not going to be too sympathetic given the deception in this case. >> 30 years for fraud. he could have additional penalties or problems? >> a lot of times they'll run time concurrently. although there's a wire fraud charge and mail fraud charge, they'll run the time together. whatever time it is, we can reasonably believe it will be hefty. >> you can't fake the hefty jail time either. >> no, you can't. >> joey jackson, thank you. >> pleasure. next up on "new day," finally an answer. wildlife officials say they have identified the mysterious illness that's killed dozens of bald eagles in utah. see what officials are now up against there, coming up next. [ laughter ]

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mystery solved, wildlife officials in utah now know what is causing bald eagles to fall ill and die, it was west nile virus, it's suspected the eagles contracted the disease consuming other birds who had it. so far 27 have died, five others are being treated in rehabilitation centers. ron mcgill is a zoologist and wildlife expert at zoo miami and joins us live this morning. good morning. first of all, how concerning is this? >> well it's concerning in a sense that we've lost over 27 birds now, but the bottom line is west nile is nothing new here. something introduced into north america in 19 a99 and the strane

thing is this is winter time. this is cyclical, passed by mosquitos. to see it occur during the wintertime throws a red flag and the fact it's affecting bald eagles is not commonly seep. it affects hundreds of species of birds, most birds recover from it, birds are overcome by crows and you see 300, 400 birds, a mass death, at a time. >> what do you make of that red flag then? >> my concern is this, we keep going back to the cliche about climate change and global warming but the fact of the matter is it's changing cycles in everything in wildlife, migration patterns, mosquitos are one of the deadliest animals in the world, more active in the summertime but now we have global warming their cycles are changing, becoming more active at a time that's not normal for them and in the wintertime realize that birds have less of a resistance for things, they have less food, struggling more to survive so they can become

more susceptible to things like this and these changes in the normal cycles of nature could be catastrophic really. >> it's shocking when you look at these majestic animals you can hardly believe something could take them down like that. how big of an impact, the numbers are at 27 dying so far. how big of an impact is that on the bald eagle population in utah and the number in the states? >> you know, fortunately bald eagles have made a tremendous recovery thinks to the nature species act, the bald eagle protection act, 27 in all reality is not going to be a major impact on the population of bald eagles, we don't need to look at the number as much as we need to look at the problem itself, this could manifest into something larger if it is a change in cycles, if the populations have become more susceptible due to global warming, mosquitos becoming more active different times of the year, these are all things we have to check on. this might be a symptom of a much larger problem. >> that brings up an interesting

point for folks like you at zoo miami and other zoos around the nation and other facilities that house animals from wildlife, what do you do to protect these animals and these from this illness or other illnesses? >> it's something you have to always monitor. the bottom line, most birds, most people who contract west nile virus never even have a symptom. this is something that is rare that causes this type of death in a species, most birds will recover from it, things like jays and crows are susceptible to dying. most people will recover. very rare west nile has a bad effect on human beings but again as these viruses start to kind of manipulate themselves, adjust and adapt to different environments they change and atapt to things, these are the things we have to be concerned of. we had at our zoo in miami birds die of west nile but again this is a normal thing during the summertime you have that happen, most of the population recovers. we just have to monitor those numbers and make sure they're not accelerating at an abnormal

rate. >> what do you advise people who may live in areas where they're seeing the sick birds. >> first of all don't touch the birds. you report it to your wildlife agency if you see dead birds, the other thing is, mosquitos are the biggest transmitter of these things. always protect yourself from mosquitos. you're saying geez, utah and the snow. >> they're not going to survive the winter. >> exactly. this is the thing that's strange. this is i think the thing they have to study because this disease has been traced baaing to some grieves that died at the lake. eagles are great birds of prey but also a vulture, because they'll feed on anything. >> we're looking at video of someone picking up a bird, tourists picking up the bird, with he don't advise people to do that as ron mentioned call your wildlife agency nearby. ron mcgill thank you for joining us and giving us perspective on the situation with the bald eagles in utah. >> my pleasure, thank you. next up on "new day" the

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this storm is something else. >> too cold. too cold. >> whiteout, a huge snowmaker moving toward the northeast bringing more than a foot of snow to major cities, thousands of flights canceled, traffic

snarled and the temperatures plumm plummet. finally free, passengers aboard that stranded ship in antarctica air lifted out but this is only the beginning of their juourney to safety. we're live with the latest the ultimate daily grind, the woman who ate breakfast, lunch and dinner at starbucks for a year, why'd she do it? how did she sleep after all that caffeine? she joins us live this morning. your "new day" continues right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >> announcer: what you need to know. >> the helicopter is taking us home. thanks, everyone. >> announcer: what you just have to see. this is "new day" with chris cuomo, kate bolduan, and michaela pereira. >> polar bear plunge, that is no joke. >> chilly. >> good morning and welcome to

"new day," the new day second day of january, almost 8:00 a.m. in the east, chris and kate is off. john and ana are with me. >> the holiday is over, the new year begun, the weather is frightful, 2014 a cold and snowy start, a storm moving from the midwest to the northeast, bringing the first significant snowfall of the year, just two days in, it's already happening. check out the snow this morning in boston, the city has already declared a snow emergency and canceled school for tomorrow. massachusetts is one of 18 states with some sort of winter weather advisory in effect, stretching from illinois to maine. >> the impact is already being felt with about 2,300 flights canceled, leaving many with no way to get home from their holiday trips and if the snow is not enough, look at that, that is ugly, the temperatures left in the storm's wake will send a chill up and down your spine, all the way to your toes, a lot

of minus signs there, the storm is heading east, it started, though, in the midwest and that's where we begin with ted row londons and a snowy chicago. good morning, ted. >> reporter: good morning, john. this storm has been hammering chicago, it started snowing new year's day and just keeps coming. throughout the night, snow continuing to pile up in chicago, millions from the midwest to new england will be impacted by the new year's first major snowstorm, bringing with it blizzard-like conditions and dangerously cold temperatures, some parts could see more than a foot of snow. >> seemed like it's been snowing since winter got here. >> reporter: boston declaring a snow emergency and planning to close public schools on friday. the massive winter storm already wreaking havoc. >> stay off the roads. >> reporter: more than 200 spinouts reported in minneapolis

alone as ice blankets the roads. frigid temps complicating rescueerts as firefighters had to be rotated in and out of the front lines of this raging apartment fire. >> our nozzles have a tendency to freeze up if we don't keep flowing water. >> reporter: lake-effect snow is the story in upstate new york, more than two feet of the white stuff on the ground already. >> it was hard on the businesses last night because people had reservations to go out to new year's eve and couldn't get out. >> reporter: the deep freeze have large parts of the country feeling temps well below zero. >> too cold. >> reporter: if you think that's cold take a trip north to winnipeg, canada, the temps hovered around 40 below zero, colder than the surface of mars. >> this storm is something else. >> reporter: the big problem in chicago has been keeping the roads clear. the plows have been out 24/7 since this started on new year's

eve day and they'll be outule day long, in all we're expected to get a foot of snow in some areas of chicagoland, the big problem not only the roads but also as you mentioned earlier the airports, o'hare, lots of cancellations, we're expecting more today. >> we can see the snow collecting on your hair, ted. >> frosted tips. >> literal frosted tips, fantastic. let's talk about the amounts we're going to see fall onto the ground, boston is expected as we mentioned to get hammered, more than a foot of the white stuff. jennifer gray is there bracing for the worst of the snow, and i know you're bundled up but you can feel it, can't you? >> reporter: i can feel every degree. there aren't very many. temperatures feel like the single digits here in boston. the snow is coming down, it's a little heavier now, the flakes are a little thicker than they were earlier this morning and it is very, very fine. this snow is just very powdery. you can see, that wind starts to

blow this evening about 35 to 45 miles per hour, we're going to see possible whiteout conditions and so that's why it's going to be so dangerous as we go through the overnight hours, not only that, but we're going to add about a foot more of snow, this is only the beginning, snow has been stretched anywhere from the midwest all the way across, so we're going to call this phase one, because this isn't even the big show yet. we're going to have that area of low pressure continue to crawl up the coast, converge with that one that was in the midwest, rain down to the south, snow to the north, and lots of it. it's really going to get nasty, guys, in had the northeast as we get into the late evening hours, as we go into the morning hours tomorrow, that's when we're really going to have to watch this thing, and we could see anywhere from a foot or more of snow here in boston, six to ten inches in new york city, and then one to three around d.c., even seeing pretty high snow accumulations in philly, pittsburgh, places like that, so blizzard warnings in effect for long island and also the cape,

we're going to see very, very strong winds with this, and we're also going to see very, very cold temperatures as we go through the overnight. boston urged residents to get their cars off the roads starting at noon. they told people take public transportation stay indoors, travel will be a nightmare over the next 36 hours. >> you'll have co-workers say i can't make it home because they're stuck at an airport. thank you so much to are that. breaking news, they are finally out, 52 passengers who were on board a stranded ship in antarctica have been rescued, a helicopter air lifting them out this morning, taking them safely to an australian ice breaking ship. they're out of the ship they were stuck in but a long, long way from home. poppy harlow joins us with that.

>> still a long journey home but at least they're off that stuck ship. mission is complete, 52 passengers making it to the rescue ship but the saga is far from over. it could take until mid-january before they touch land. rescue cue efforts complete. >> the helicopter is here to take us home. thanks, everyone. >> reporter: by air and sea, teams have now successfully ended a complex operation to air lift the 52 researchers and journalists who were stranded aboard a research ship off the coast of antarctica. the "akademik" stuck in ten feet of ice. >> we'll be out in about an hour's time. >> reporter: stranded passengers seen here stomping on the snow and ice, arm and arm, preparing a landing zone for the chinese rescue chopper.

the helicopter transported 12 passengers at a time, flying them to the "auroria austrailis." the stranded research trip's 22 crew members will stay aboard. >> there was signs of relief and joy when they saw the helicopter coming in to land but i have to say, the morale has been surprisingly high the whole way through. i've been impressed actually. >> reporter: in the last week three ice breaking ships failed to reach the stranded research ship, those missions unsuccessful because of bad weather and ice. >> the winds quite intense so not ideal for helicopter operations unfortunately. >> reporter: being trapped at sea for more than a week didn't put a damper in on ringing in the new year. >> four, three, two, one, happy new year! >> reporter: breaking out in song. ♪ we're still song here, cha,

cha, cha ♪ >> reporter: all across the globe with anderson cooper and kathy griffin in times square. >> a little bit. >> we don't want to tell tales. >> reporter: good for them, they are back but you know, 22 of the staff on the ship, the crew, are going to stay there and wait until they can get it out. they have plenty of supplies to carry them through as long as needed so good for them for sticking on board. the reason, guys, it's going to take until mid-january for the passengers to get back is the ship that's picking them up was on a scientific mission to deliver supplies, they have to finish that mission so the passengers will go with them, finish the mission and head back to tasmania mid this month. >> they can work on their books now. >> right. >> i hope the ship they're on stays away from the ice. >> so do i. >> in our last hour, we spoke with al vip stone, the press coordinator for the leader of the expedition to antarctica and explained why this kaufl lcaref

crafted operation is only just the beginning for the 52 tourists and scientists. >> the initial plan was to fly them to the chinese ice breaker there, and then transfer them by barge to the "aurora australis" but it is caught in ice so they could not transfer between them. they had to come up with a plan b and managed to set up a helipad on the ice floe and basically did it ice to ice and walked them out to the ship. >> their best guess is these folks won't be on solid ground until mid-january, not getting home until then. can you explain why it's going to take that long? >> yes, originally the "australis" was there to deliver supplies to casey station. they got half way there when they got the alert to help. once they load the passengers they have to go back to casey

station, unload the scientific goods and then to hobarth. you're probably looking at reports mid-january at best i would think. >> we know 22 crew members will stay aboard the ship, chose not to abandon ship, they hope the ice will clear or they can get through. were they given any more supplies? are you concerned about them at all? >> not particularly. they have enough for the entire season, fresh food supplies and dry supplies after that, and it depends a lot on what happens next. if they happen to get a strong westerly, it could actually break the ice up, because this all has come from a southeasterly wind that's brought the ice across and if that doesn't occur, i understand there's a very large russian ice breaker on its way that should be able to carve through that three-meter thick ice without too much trouble. >> that was alvin stone, press coordinator for the ex-preddition, probably fielding a whole lot of calls regarding that stranded crew. >> looking forward to some rest no doubt in the come days.

other pig story a surprise editorial in the "new york times" this morning is already stirring up controversy. editors saying that nsa leaker edward snowden was justified in his actions. he did the country a great service and that newspaper, the "new york times" now calling on the government to give snowden incentive to stop hiding, come home, a plea deal, some sort of clemency. athena jones is in honolulu where the president is taking his holiday break with the latest on this. good morning, athena. >> reporter: good morning, john. there's been no white house response to this yet, but in a strongly worded editorial the "new york times" editorial board called edward snowden a whistle-blower for exposing the extensive surveillance the nsa was carrying out and it's time for the u.s. to offer snowden some plea bargain, some form of clemency. snowden's revelations about the nsa's tracking of americans' phone calls and listening in on the calls of some world leaders,

folks like german chancellor angela merkel sparked an uproar here at home and abroad and launched a serious debate about privacy issues. the "new york times" editorial board writes when someone reveals that government officials have routinely and deliberately broken the law that person should not face life in prison at the hands of the same government. president obama should tell his aides to begin finding a way to end mr. snowden's villification and give him incentive to return home." the editorial also notes that two federal judges have said the nsa violated the constitution and that special panel that was to review the nsa's operations, a panel that the president himself appointed recommended major changes to the way the nsa operates. john? >> athena jones in honolulu where the president is enjoying a few nor days of vacation although the editorial will wake him up with a bang this morning, thanks. barbara bush remains hospitalized. interests are treating the

former first lady for a respiratory related issue. so far her condition we're told is unchanged. no word yet on when the 88-year-old might be relaced. alina ma cchado has more. >> we don't know what is the diagnosis or what prompted barbara bush to go to the hospital in the first place. we know she's been there since monday and received visits from her husband and her family. barbara bush, the matriarch of the bush family, is back in the hospital recovering from a respiratory related issue, a family spokesperson is saying, "she is in great spirits and is receiving fantastic care at methodist hospital in houston, texas." it's the same hospital where her husband and former president george h.w. bush spent almost two months battling a bronchitis related illness in 2012. >> i have known barbara bush since 1969.

that is 44 years. having known her as i have, i have total confidence in her, period, exclamation mark. >> reporter: this is the fourth time the 88-year-old has been hospitalized in recent years, heart surgery in 2009 and hospitalized for abdominal pain in 2009 and teas with grave's disease an auto immune disorder that affects the thyroid, since 1988. her husband suffers from a form of parkinson's and is seen using a wheelchair or a scooter to get around. despite her ongoing health issues at edgy former first lady hasn't slowed down. here she is in july in the white house and just last week she spoke at a ceremony honoring a houston philanthropist for his volunteer week. >> you deserve every bit of it and much, much more, all houston, texas, is grateful to you. >> reporter: well wishers are flooding social media, former president bill clinton among them, tweeting, "i'll be rooting

for barbara bush's full recovery while she's rooti ining for bay a reference to wednesday's fiesta bowl game. >> she'll outlive us all but our love is with her because she's not just the former first lady of america, she's the first lady of our hearts, so we know that she'll pull through. >> president obama is also sending good thoughts. he released a statement yesterday saying in part, "michelle and i send our best wishes to mrs. bush for a speedy recovery. barbara is blessed to have both a loving, supportive family by her side and a vibrant spirit that we hope will have her feel better soon." john? >> thanks, and our thoughts of course are with her swle. as well. >> absolutely. the family of terry schiavo joining in support of jahi mcmath and her fight over life

support. she was declared brain dead after undergoing tonsil surgery. schiavo's family wants to help move the girl to another facility. schiavo died in 2005 after a decade-long battle to remove her from life support. >> thousands attended this memorial service for claire davis, the 17-year-old shot in the head in november. her father tearfully told the audience he and his wife have forgiven the gunman saying he didn't know what he was doing. >> vladimir putin is vowing to intense security across russia ahead of the olympics, this comes on the heels of the twin terror attacks this week that killed more than 30 people on a bus and in a train station. russian police detained dozens of people, in anti-terror raids,

the olympics 36 days away. new york city has a democratic mayor for the first time in 20 years. bull de blasio was sworn in. you can see former president clinton doing the honors and he promised to even the economic playing field, taxing those who make more than half a million per year to pay for universal pre-k and afterschool programs and told the wealthy don'tarery the tax increase on average would amount to less than $3 a day. it's new year's when a whole bunch of people put on their bathing suits and go swimming in january. what's a little hypothermia between friends. you're watching the annual polar bear plunge in chico, california, about 500 people. the high was about 62 degrees, so i don't know if you can really call it the polar plunge. >> we want to see maine. >> the water is still cold in

california. >> when you have to break the ice to go in. >> all right, michaela, you lead the way. >> no. ana, thanks for the headlines. taking a short break here on "new day," speaking out the stars of "duck "dynasty"" are looking forward to getting back to work in 2014. phil robertson is still raising eyebr eyebrows, another of his comments sparking controversy. and long lines around the block as recreational marijuana becomes legal in the state of colorado. the product does not come cheap. will store owners be able to keep up with all the demand? ♪ puff the magic dragon lived by the sea ♪ i quit smoking. i've quit for 75 days. 15 days, but not in a row. for the first time, you can use nicorette... even if you slip up... so you can reach your goal. [ male announcer ] now, quit on your own terms

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♪ yes, you guessed it, welcome back to "new day," folks, colorado's marijuana retailers are open for business and business is booming, smokers lining up before dawn wednesday to score some of the first licensed legal recreational pot. this is anywhere in the united states of course but with a limited number of dispensaries opening in many spots, demand is far outstripping supply. casey wian is in denver, casey? >> reporter: good morning, john. all of these marijuana plants you see surrounding me are destined for ofgreen apothecary where we spent yesterday day the first day of recreational legal sales in colorado and business was better than even the owners could have expected.

this married couple rang in the new year waiting outside evergreen at 2:00 in the morning, six hours before the marijuana sales began in colorado. why was it important for you guys to be here so early and be first in line? >> because we're pioneers. >> reporter: some waited in the snow to select their preferred strain of pot. >> so this is going to be a cross of ojicush, vanilla cush and sweet tooth. >> reporter: and the first legal deal was on it. it's been a long time coming since the sale of alcohol resumed after the end of prohibition 80 years ago. marijuana is on the target list of authorities. "reefer madness" the film from 1930s portrays smokers into crime and insanity but attitudes and laws since changed. colorado first allowed medical marijuana in 2000.

it took 12 years to legalize recreational pot sales. >> this is the forefront and to be a part of history and prohibition has ended. >> reporter: colorado residents aged 21 and older can purchase up to one ounce of marijuana, out of stators can buy a quarter ounce. >> i'm excited. i've been dreaming about this since i started smoking. >> reporter: there are other rules, no taking marijuana out of state, no consumption in public and the main concern for law enforcement, no driving stoned. >>? f someone's drinking and driving, driving too fast or aggressively, if you're under the influence of marijuana you're likely to be slow, but frankly, we've had medical marijuana in colorado for about 13 years, so we're used to deal with people who are driving and consuming marriage marriage. >> reporter: for new recreational retailers the biggest concern is demand exceeding supply and the possibility of shortages and higher prices. >> candy-like taste to it. >> reporter: here it's going for

$50 per 1/8 ounce. all the plants, the buds from the plants will be ready for sale at evergreen apothecary. he's not concerned but other retailers are worried about a shortage and higher prices. michaela and john? >> casey wian reporting, thanks so much. was it murder, the mysterious death of a beloved roman catholic priest has detectives scouring the california coast for clues and perhaps a suspect. and 40 million target customers had their debit and credit card accounts hacked. the retailer reveals there is a problem with their own gift cards. ( bell rings ) they remind me so much of my grandkids. wish i saw mine more often, but they live so far away. i've been thinking about moving in with my daughter and her family. it's been pretty tough since jack passed away.

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all right, here we go, more than 1,100 flights in the united states already canceled this morning and this is just the beginning, folks, a major monster winter storm getting ready to bear down on millions of people. boston could see about 15 inches of snow. meteorologist jennifer gray is in boston to see it all. good morning, jennifer. >> reporter: good morning, guys. yes, it's already coming down and you can see it really coming down in boston now, we've had some really light snow earlier, but now it's starting to pick up, so people, this morning already waking up to this, snow all over their windshield. you can't even pack it, it's so light and fluffy. this is nothing compared to what they'll be doing tomorrow morning, though, as we get more than a foot of snow here in

boston. this city is pretty much going to be shut down. this is going to be a blockbuster storm. we're going to see a lot of snow through the city, plows will be out, they're urging people not to bring your car in the city, use public transportation, and get your car off the road by noon today, because they are getting ready for sure. look at these snow totals in the midwest, chicago o'hare more than five inches of snow, all of that is pushing to the east, we have these two areas of low pressure that are converging and it's going to be a mess. look at all the winter storm watches and warnings across the area, we could see 12, even 15 inches of snow in boston, that's more than they should receive the entire month of january, just with this one storm, and so this is going to be huge. as we go through the overnight tonight into tomorrow, it is going to be cold, and it has been cold in the northern plains. look at international falls, 42 degrees below zero, definitely

living up to their name as the nation's ice box, and they broke a record with that temperature this morning. next three days, guys, doesn't get much better, the northeast will be waking up in the single digits over the next couple of days. >> completely uncalled for. jennifer gray, thank you so much. appreciate it. >> that big storm that's bearing down on us is one of the things you should know but there are five others you should know for your new day. here's ana. >> finally rescued, a helicopter air lifted 52 passengers from the strip stranded since christmas eve in antarctica, likely taken to an australian ship. number two, americans are receiving health coverage under obamacare. more than 2 million people signed up but it's unclear how many paid their first month's premium. the policies don't take effect until then. seven-time formula one world

champion michael shchumacher is in critical but stable condition. it's been three days since he had a skiing accident. he's had two brain operations and is in a medically induced coma. hollywood is mourning the loss of james avery, best known for the uncle on the fresh prince of bel-air. hackers say they were trying to prove a point about privacy, skype was also the target of the syrian electronic army which posted messages on skype's facebook and twitter accounts. we're updating five things you need to know, go to newdaycnn.com. >> thanks so much for that. the stars of requests duck "dynasty"" break silence. star and family patriarch phil robertson were suspended for remarks that were viewed as anti-gay and racially insensitive.

now dad and son says it's time to move on. one problem a new video is more shocking comments. pamela brown follows this all. >> just a few days after a&e lifted its suspension of phil robertson, the star is in hot water again, this time for an onlun video from three years ago showing robertson suggesting to a crowd it's a good idea to marry teenage girls, yet another controversy for the family and the network to address. phil robertson, the patriarch of "duck "dynasty"" is starting off the new year with a new controversy, a video surfaced of robertson from 2009 in which he advises men to marry women at a very young age. >> you wait until they get to be 20 years old, the only picking that's going to take place is your pocket. you got to marry these girls when they're about 15 or 16. >> reporter: robertson married his own wife kay when she was 16

and he was 20. >> what is the tipping point to get it kicked off the air? the answer thus far is nothing. there are more and more people watching the show and more and more people buying their products to show support. >> reporter: the famently has been the center of a media firestorm, since comments robertson made in an interview with "gq" magazine in which he discussed his opinions on african-americans and gays, describing homosexuality as against nature, saying it's not logical, my man, it's just not logical. >> pain is a good thing. >> reporter: a&e suspended robertson from filming and robertson issued an apology, after a fleury of online support the network reinstated him to the show saying they decided to resume filming "duck "dynasty"" later this spring with the entire robertson family." son willie addressed the issue of his father's initial comments on fox news. >> i think we all learned a lot and we're ready to move on and

family is happy and ready to go. >> reporter: a lot of this may have come down to money, with 14 million viewers per episode, diagnosis quick "dynasty"" is a&e's top rated show and "forbes" magazine estimates endorsements and merchandise brought in $4 million in 2013. >> the advertisers and the interest groups are all going to follow what the audience says and what the audience said thus far is we like the guy. >> cnn's atecht for comment from a&e and the robertson family about the latest video were unsuccessful. lot of the show's fans have been unsurprised by the various videos that emerged since the show from the start has been about the robertsons as a backwoods louisiana family. new episodes are scheduled to air starting january 15th. we'll have to see if any more videos surface. >> they're online. people will start going through them piece by piece. pamela, thanks so much.

next up on "new day" a community in shock over a beloved priest's death, this community searches for peace, police search for a possible killer. target facing more tough times, a data breach we told you about here on cnn and now botched gift cards. what else can go wrong for the company?

welcome back to "new day" everyone. now to a possible murder mystery unfolding in california. catholic parish is reeling. one of its beloved priests is dead and the circumstances surrounding how he died surrounded in mystery. ana cabrera has the story for us. >> we don't know for sure how he died but right now father eric fried's death is treated as a murder investigation. colleague in the religious

studies department at humboldt state university remembered his friend this way "this was not some stuffy clergyman. he was very much someone you could sit down and speak with. he connected with efb." just hours after celebrating the start of a new year this was the scene outside of st. bernard kum church in eureka, california. >> this morning about 9:00, officers were summoned to this location to check suspicious circumstances in the rectory and found one person who appeared deceased. >> reporter: although police officials stopped short of identifying the deceased, eureka's mayor confirmed it was the body of beloved roman catholic priest eric fried found inside the rectory. >> father eric was a friend of mine, a tremendous person in this community. >> reporter: the circumstances surrounding the death remain murky. what is clear is that this may not have been an accident. >> since it was not a normal

circumstance or what we'd expect in a normal death investigation, investigators have been called and we assembled a team with as much expertise as we can possible muster to make sure that this investigation is thorough and complete, and timely. >> reporter: while authorities continue processing the crime scene and searching for his 2010 nissan altima, they admit there are no solid leads yet. now mourners are remembering father eric as a man of the community, kind, warm, deeply involved, trying to make sense of his troubling death. >> those of us that believe in prayer, this is the time for that, and hope we can find out who did this. >> authorities are following up on tips and trying to figure out why he may have left his car, searching for any clue that might shed light on what happened inside that church in the early morning hours of new year's day. >> often you look to your priest for guidance through tough times and of course this time is the

one who's beenapparently he's b community for three years, professor teaching courses and really connected with the japanese-americans there, he spent time in japan, so it's just such a mystery. >> hope they get some answers. next up on "new day" another bump in the road for target stores after revealing that 40 million of their customers' debit and credit card accounts were hacked and now there's a problem with their own gift cards. talk about the ultimate daily grind, you are going to meet the woman who lived off of starbucks only for an entire year. why on earth did she do it? we'll ta you can with her live. [ sneezes, coughs ] i've got a big date, but my sinuses are acting up. it's time for advil cold and sinus. [ male announcer ] truth is that won't relieve all your symptoms. new alka seltzer plus-d relieves more symptoms than any other behind the counter liquid gel. oh what a relief it is.

to stretch my party budget. but when my so-called bargain brand towel made a mess of things, i switched to bounty basic. look! one sheet of bounty basic is 50% stronger than a full sheet of the bargain brand. bounty basic. the strong but affordable picker upper. but thieves can steal your identity and turn your life upside down. hi. hi. you know, i could save you 15% today if you open up a charge-card account with us. you just read my mind. [ male announcer ] just one little piece of personal information, and they can open bogus accounts,

damaging your credit, stealing your money, and ruining your reputation. that's why you need lifelock to relentlessly protect what matters most, helping stop crooks before the damage can be done. and now you can have the most comprehensive identify-theft protection available today -- lifelock ultimate. for protection you just can't provide yourself, get lifelock ultimate. i didn't know how serious identity theft was until i lost my credit and eventually i lost my home. [ male announcer ] lifelock is on the job 24/7. when they detect a threat to your identity within their network, they'll alert you by phone, text, or e-mail. that's protection from the industry leader -- lifelock. identity theft was a huge, huge problem for me, and it's gone away because of lifelock. [ male announcer ] while no one can stop all identify theft, if criminals do steal your identity, lifelock will hire experts to help fix it with our $1 million service guarantee.

you have so much to protect and nothing to lose when you get two full months of identity-theft protection risk-free. that's right -- 60 days risk-free. use promo code "gethelp." if you're not completely satisfied, you won't pay a cent. order now and also get this shredder to keep your documents out of the wrong hands -- a $29 value free. ♪ ♪ ♪

this might go down as the roughest season for target in years. two weeks after announcing the massive payment data security breach, target saying wednesday some of the gift cards it sold over the holidays were not fully activated. cnn business correspondent alison kosik joins us. i imagine the nightmare, a load of stuff, checking out, grandma's gechb you a gift card and boom it doesn't work. >> it shows no value. oh my god i got this gift card. for target this is a one-two punch. they just went through this breach of security with the credit cards and now this. the good news is that target says that the number of cards

affected was less than, let me get this right, less than 0.1% of the total amount of cards sold over the holiday season so a target spokeswoman says this isn't a huge problem. we are aware that some target gift cards were not fully activated and we apologize for the inconvenience. the good news is target is going to honor these gift cards having this glitch. customers can bring the faulty cards to the target customer service desks, or call 1-800-544-2943. >> how do you know if you're one of the affected people? >> good question. walk up and say hey i had 50,000 bucks on this, really. >> on the honor system. >> no, but they can track it. when you bring it to the desk there's a number on the back, target it go ahead and track it and see how much money is on there so you can use it. it's really a lesson for those of us who get gift cards in the future, some of the advice i'm hearing is when you get that gift card, keep the receipt with

you, maybe wrap it around the card and hold it with you so you always have the receipt and that number on the back of most gift cards so you can get the value. >> alison is there any sense yet of how damaging this has been for target this holiday season? they had a world of problems so far. >> especially around the holiday season when you're getting that crush of customers and so many customers have been affected by this, we're already getting indication that sales may have taken a hit over the holiday season. target wound up offering 10% off when this came to light, it aufd th offered 10% off over the weekend. this is one more black eye, this is from brian sasi, one of my faefrt retail analysts, it makes you question the internal operations of target and target has to do everything perfectly, it can't afford to lose any more confidence, and that's really what's at stake is confidence in going to the store and knowing when you make that purchase, am i going to walk out with someone else walking out with my number and me not knowing it. >> it's not as though they're running out of an item on store

shelves. these are massive problems in terms of they're big deals, the data breach was a gigantic issue. >> right, a huge issue and it does come down to confidence and target is certainly taking a hit with sales, there was some indications in december, we will see what retail sales numbers come out in the come weeks. >> obviously as you've been covering business over so many years, is this a situation where you think that target has internal problems really going on, the fact that these things can slip through the cracks or is it coincidental there's multiple issues they're talking about? >> clearly something was wrong here, my bet is they're going to fix it good and there is a good chance that target can recover from this. it's a matter of all these people were affected, who will be reaping the ramifications in the future, the crooks may have gotten off with all this information, credit and debit card numbers, customer names, cvb number, the back of the card where you do an online purchase

or over the phone purchase, these are detailed information for your cards, but many experts are saying if you're worried at all, go ahead and have your card switched out to a new number if you're worried about what the future brings with the crooks having this information. >> another thing to watch out for. >> coming up next on "new day," imagine eating only meals from starbucks for an entire year. one woman actually did this. you will not believe what it cost her, and she's going to join us live to explain why on earth she bothered doing this, right after the break. honestly, as much as i love this job, i plan to do a lot more.

i needed a new laptop for my pre-med classes, something that runs office and has a keyboard. but i wanted a tablet for me, for stuff like twitter and xbox, so my downtime can be more like uptime. that's why i got a windows 2 in 1 which does both -- works as a laptop and a tablet. so i can manage my crazy life, and also have a life. [ beep ] gotta go. ♪

welcome back. check out what heavy rains have done in hawaii, opened up a sink hole that swallowed up a truck. the driver here thankfully is okay. she managed to climb out through

the window. the rains there have set records in some places and triggered some pretty serious landslides. look at that. >> we should never doubt mother nature. she'd be fierce. >> no, i'm a believer. >> if only we could control mother nature when it's convenient for us. >> we've seen a number of sink holes opening up along the california coast, saw some in the los angeles area, aging infrastructure, et cetera. this one, what a surprise. >> a lot of rain there. >> that's deep, too. look at that. glad to know he's okay. >> yes. all right, imagine this. 24/7, 365 days starbucks. she challenged herself to eat and drink only items that could be purchased from starbucks or its partner stores for an entire year. her year just ended and i feel like she probably has a new challenge she set for herself. she's joining us now, her name and it is her name, beautiful

existence, we'll talk to her about her name in a moment. she joins us live bright and early from seattle, washington, where it is awfully early. thank you so much and good to have you with us. >> happy new year to you, too. >> the question that begs to be asked, beautiful, is why, oh why would you do this? >> starbucks is the third year i've done challenges, i go in for a year and set myself a challenge around a brand to live and starbucks was eating challenge for me, and i've been focusing on pacific northwest brands and they were the first year for me to focus on pacific northwest brands and i knew that with the other items that they own like evolution fresh that my menu options would be a little bit more diverse than just bistro boxes and i felt it was something that i could do while i discovered the brand and the

community that is around starbucks and i did. >> miss existence, if i can call you that. >> yes. >> when i go to starbucks i have a hard time picking out food if i want to get myself filled up, i have a hard enough finding with unthing. you found a year's worth of food. how do you do that? >> yes, actually i was lucky this last year because they introduced la boulange so they changed menu options and opened up a tivana store around here and had different food options with that and like i said, evolution fresh changes their food menu items every season as well, so i actually had quite a few things that had changed during this last year that offered me great variety just besides that they had the different brands, they actually kept changing the food items as well. so it was actually really easy

for an entire year to find something new all the time with them. >> of course, everybody wants to know, what happened as far as did you gain weight, did you lose weight, were you able to maintain? >> yes, absolutely. so for one month i took on christine hall's starbucks diet challenge and i lost weight, absolutely starbucks puts together menu items and protein bistro boxes and sandwich that has a calorie count. as long as you're active and monitor the intake of your calories you absolutely can lose weight and i did. this year because i knew that i was going to go into a really active sporting challenge year in 2014, i kind of increased my athletic vigor in 2013 and i did not gain weight at all. >> your next challenge is mastering every sport featured at rei, which i need to talk to

you about in a whole other segment, that's amazing. i'm curious, we talked about the impact to your waistline. what about to your pocketbook? i go to starbucks and get a coffee and i feel like i spent a lot of money. how did you do this financially? >> well i had money on cards that i had been saving before this challenge for sure, and i had a lot of support from family and friends, i will tell you that, and i did not allow myself to go to the malls, i didn't go shopping, i barely got anything that i would have liked to have gotten. >> how much did you spend a month? >> well, i have all my receipts, and i tallied them up last night, it's like a big huge stack, like seriously, like a big stack. >> wow. >> for the year, and every month i broke out what the month was and i'm missing some receipts because sometimes you know, something would happen and i'd miss a receipt but i tallied it up last night and i spent over

$7,000 last year. >> and you're a mom, too, right? >> i am, yes. >> what did your kids make of this? >> well, they like going to starbucks and getting a cookie or my youngest one knows the starr pucks logo really well now, he's 3, and points to it and says, mommy. he told me last week that he wanted a hot chocolate from starbucks. >> you're like i'm never going again, never again. >> oh, my. >> created a monster. >> listen, we are impressed that your next challenge mastering every support featured at reu, only done two of the sports, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. ultramarathoning and ice climbing, we wish you luck, be safe and check in with us and let us know how the challenge is going next year. >> absolutely. >> beautiful existence survived a year on starbucks alone, my,

my, my. haven't even talked about her caffeine intake. time for "newsroom" with fredricka whitfield. >> thanks so much, michaela, john, ana, i'm getting a charge just by hearing her torrey. who needs any more caffeine? you all have a great day. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com meteorologist of people in the cross-hairs of a major winter storm. >> stay off the roads. >> seems like it's been snowing since winter got here. >> 25 states will be hit, some will see up to a foot of snow and parts of the east coast are bracing for blizzard conditions. plus -- >> the helicopter is here to take us home. >> the snow dragon to the