is going to fight harder for you than you. >> perfect way to end. thank you both very much indeed. that's all for us tonight. the northeast buried this morning. more than a foot of snow falling in some places. this brutal winter storm shutting down schools, offices, roads, grounding thousands of planes. indira peterson is outside tracking the storm in boston. rene marsh keeping us updated on flight from washington, d.c. and live in the cold streets of new york where i've got to say the snow is everywhere. good morning, everyone, welcome to "early start." i'm john berman. >> and it's 5:00 a.m. in the

east. john's got the big story this morning. >> if you are watching this, chris teerngs the news is, you made it! you haven't lost power, or maybe you're stuck in an airport. whatever the option, i hope you're warm. it snowed here in new york city. more than 15 hours. you can see it all over the streets, the plows, the snow. it is cold, about 16 degrees with the windchill. much, much worse than that. there's more snow in philadelphia. you can seat map right here giving you the totals up and down the east coast. it really has affected a large area. in washington, d.c., federal workers are being told to come in late this morning, or just is stay home if they can't get in. the government, however, will be open for business. it was closed on tuesday. the d.c. area got around six inches of snow which is an awful lot for washington, d.c. roads there were slick. take a look at these pictures from alex sand korea, virginia. showing a car just spinning out on the d.c. beltway. bad stuff there.

and a fatal accident in landover, maryland. both of these are being blamed on the bad driving conditions. temperatures there are plunging. the temperatures will be the story for the next several days. the windchills now 5 to 15 below. and those windchills and that cold make for slick, slick roads here in new york today. these pictures are from long island, hit hard by the storm. 10 inches or so fell out there. it was hard to even walk for some people in brooklyn here in new york. with the snow falling so fast, the plows, the shovels could not keep up. and as i said, this has really been a coastal phenomenon this morning, the charlotte area is ice cold. maybe colder an ice. temperatures plunging to 20 degrees as the snow fell there. and that made the driving there treacherous. >> we were doing 180s on the road earlier. we got behind a scraper that let us go for a little bit but it

didn't work after that. >> reporter: that's north carolina. in delaware, there's a state of emergency and a level 1 driving warning that means just get off the road. stay off. more than half a foot of snow falling in parts of that state. governor approving the delaware guard if they make that request. single-sicht temperatures, close to two feet of snow around chicago and northwest indiana. massive traffic jams, late into the night, in chicago. making it difficult for plows to clear the roads. you can't push several feet of snow. no relief in sight with windchills that will plunge to minus 25! that's the scene up and down the east coast. we're going to indira petersens live in boston this morning. keeping an eye on conditions there. what we can expect today. indra. >> reporter: what an incredible 24 hours this has been. of course, right here in boston,

we're now seeing that it's very cold out this morning. we're actually still seeing that snow as it's very close this morning. temperatures the arctic chill is here, temperatures about 11 degrees, but you got to add in that windchill. because we are seeing gusts about 30 miles per hour so it's bringing it down to a good 7 below. you can see it. fingertips quickly freezing out here. let's talk about what happened. we have this alberta clipper, it makes its way over the upper midwest. usually dropping small amounts of snow, not this guy. we also saw what happened. this guy intersected with the laentsics ocean last night. let's talk about the amount of moisture it pulled up record-breaking snowfall. jersey seeing 10 inches of snow. here in boston itself, we saw around five inches, areas arranged massachusetts also got that foot-mark of snow. but it's not over with yet. the snow is still out there. we're still talking about slight

snow this morning. here's the good news, the low is pulling offshore and making its way to the north. but it's strength at the same time, so keep in mind, the winds, they are intensifying and that arctic air blast, it's lasting for a while. >> reporter: it's a very, very cold way, but indra petersons, the snow is blowing sideways in boston. thanks, indra. so this storm, obviously, as you can imagine is having a major effect on travel. should we call it lack of travel. it's awfully hard to get where you're going either in car or truck or air. rene marsh live at reagan national airport in washington with the latest. rene, any improvement? >> reporter: well, here is the very frustrating reality. there are people who are waking up in the airport this morning. i saw them as i walked to my live shot here, snuggled up on the airport seats. here's what we know, we know that those boards are going to be lit up today with more

cancellations, more delays. guess what, we're already starting the day off with more than 1,000 cancellations. of course, we're going to see, because the snow is gone here, at least in d.c., we still have a lot of that cold, cold weather here. so we're going to see delays caused by some of that deicing that we're going to see at airports. we saw that today, we're going to see that again. we saw that yesterday. we're going to see that today. also some of the airports really getting slammed with cancellations and delays so far this morning. we're talking about boston, new york city airports, as well as philadelphia. they are seeing the most cancellations at this hour. most of these airports in the bull's-eye, they had limited operations last night, and they will continue to have limited operations this morning. those passengers, they're not very happy. take a listen. >> i'm stuck in new york. i'm supposed to be in atlanta. i have a business. i'm supposed to make deliveries tomorrow. i've got to figure something

out. i can't get out until thursday. >> it took me two hours to get to the airport. and we sat on the runway for probably an hour and they bumped us off. so now we're here. >> reporter: you know, a lot of these airline, they started these cancellations well before the snow even started to fall. and i spoke with one analyst yesterday, he said, look, when there's bad weather coming, this is going to be the new normal. so travelers get ready. house to will be impacted because they will continue to do these precancellations. and this analyst says for good reason. take a listen. >> partly because now the government fines them, when a plane is stuck on the tarmac, you have passengers without food and water for a whole long time, and it could be billions of dollars for a point. and there are millions of reasons why airlines say, you know what, we'd rather cancel lots of flights rather than perhaps have that one flight full of stranded passengers. so very much a tradeoff.

>> reporter: so not really ending on a high note here. because based on that information, it just means that the next time there's a big winter storm, expect more of these cancellations in the thousands, john? >> reporter: that's a lovely thought, rene marsh at reagan national airport. if you are watching us at an airport this morning, we're sending you warm hugs. hang in there. we're going to be out here all morning in the cold, keeping an eye on the storm and aftermath. it will be cold for a wild. christine, back to you. >> a lot of people watching us from those airports, no doubt. in other news, john, former virginia governor bob mcdonald and his wife have been officially indicted on federal corruption charges. the couple is accused of accepting thousands of dollars of gifts and loans from the head of a indict tear supplement company who wanted help promoting his products. at his news conference, mcdonald said he did nothing illegal. >> i never promised and mr. williams and his company

never received any government benefit of any kind from me or from my administration. no contract, loan, grant, funding, legislation, budget appropriation, regulation, border commission assignment or any other official state benefit. and not one penny of taxpayer money went to hip or to star scientific during our administration. not one penny. >> mcdonnell said they're guilty of unjust overreach. this morning, chris christie is getting new advice about his future from a republican bigwig who says maybe it's time for the governor to step back from his national ambitions. ken cuccinelli tells cnn's "cross fire" he thinks christie should give up his role as chairman of the republican committee and focus on fixing

his reputation at home. >> i think just from the perspective of setting this aside in other races, it makes sense for him to step aside in that role. he does not serve the goals of that information by staying as chairman. every governor does better by setting everything else aside. if the goal is to be the best governor you can be, that's done by setting everything else aside. >> christie has said the scandal over allegations of top aides strong-armed political opponents, christie said that scandal will not impact the toobt help other governors nationally. and he spent this past weekend helping fund raise in florida for governor rick scott. we're hearing this morning for edward snowden who is denying he's a spy for russia. the admitted nsa leaker said he acted alone despite allegations from some in congress. snowden said he never intended to live in russia, but actually was planning to go to cuba, but the u.s. canceled his poorts

before he could get there. a syrian peace process begins today. the new report claims the u.s. is now funneling cash and other aid to rebel groups in hopes of fighting extremists in syria. the newspaper "the telegraph" said the efforts are in connection with saudi arabia and qatar battling for control of syria. a state emergency today in thailand as pass protests spent on toppling the government are paralyzing parts of bangkok. this follows weeks of deadly clashes there. and calling her the puppet of a former leader. the emergency decree could lead to curfews and bans on public gathers. thai officials say they've ruled out using force to the rally. the dow hit with disappointing earnings, finish, down 44 points.

nasdaq and s&p both closed higher. right now in europe, london, frank ft. paris mostly higher. in asia, arabian markets still benefitting from china's move to ease fears of a credit crunch. and late tuesday, the company reported weaker sales. the coe told analysts ibm is likely to take a charge to, quote, rebalance its workforce. that would mean 10,000 to 15,000 ibm job cuts. the site of the upcoming olympics, police are searching door to door for terrorists they believe may already be in position to attack. we're live with those latest developments this morning. and a deadly plane crash caught on camera. what we're learning from this new video. that's next. could be hectic. angie's list saves me a lot of time. after reading all the reviews i know i'm making the right choice. online or on the phone, we help you hire right the first time.

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this morning, in russia, police in the desperate search for three women feared to be potential suicide bombers including, a so-called black widow who may already be in sochi ahead of the winter olympics. phil black is in volgograd with the latest. phil joins us on the phone right now. phil, what can you tell us this morning? >> reporter: yeah, good morning, john. today, we're talking about two potential women threats that russia has detected, the 22-year-old woman who may already be in sochi, planning the attacks on the olympics there. the second thought to be a group of women targeting the olympics torch relay, as it goes through the city of rostov-on-don. three women thought to be involved there. plus, one of them, we know, was

killed by security forces during an operation over the weekend. the whereabouts of the remaining two women is unknown, john. >> we know that president obama spoke to the russian leader vladimir putin over the phone to discuss among other things safety at the winter olympic games. what kind of assurances are the russian government officials giving that in fact the games will be safe, phil? >> reporter: they're saying very much on message, not saying a lot in detail, but insisting that their plans are thorough. they're adequate and everything is in place, and these games will be safe. you're right, the presidents obama and putin spoke by phone yesterday. president obama offering to help in any way possible to help make the games secure. we don't know what president putin's response to that was. we two know that the russian chief has been talking about sharing technology with them, american technology that would help in detectinging and jamming grow viegsed explosive devices.

both sides are said to be looking at whether or not that american technology is compatible with russian systems, john. >> thank you so much, phil black in volgograd this morning. again, this issue of safety at the olympics, a major, major concern. one we'll be covering every day. all right. we're getting a new look at a deadly plane crash in aspen earlier this month. a warning, some of you might find this video disturbing. take a look. these images taken by infrared cameras, they show the plane bounce off the runway, fall again and then explode. one person died, two others seriously hurt. the pilot reported high winds and problems landing. classes were canceled at the university in wake of a deadly shooting there. 22-year-old codey cousins is being held on suspicion of homicide. his alleged system is 21-year-old andrew bolt. police say the shoot zg not

appear to be random. the suspect is being held without bond. two women in maryland are accused of kill two young children in an alleged exorcism. 28-year-old za kaia avery and mon fifa sanford told groups they were part of a group known as demon assassins. a 1-year-old and a 2-year-old. prosecutors are seeking a mental evaluation to determine if the women are competent to stand trial. >> that's just awful. a day of disappointment for the family of jonathan ferrell. the football player who was fatally shot by police last year. he was unarmed at the time and reportedly seeking help after a car crash. tuesday, a grand jury declined to indict a north carolina officer for that shooting. the state is hoping to reintroduce that case saying the grand jury was missing jurors. toronto mayor rob ford in

trouble, admitting, yes, he's been drinking, despite the promises that he's now sober. it came to light in the youtube video. it shows the mayor of the fourth largest city babbling incoherently in what sounds like a jamaican accent. listen. >> five months -- trying to tell me -- look, we're doing this together. >> were you drinking last night? >> yes, i was. >> you were drinking a little bit? >> a little bit, yeah. >> do you think that video was offensive to people? >> no, i was with some friends. what i do in my personal life with my permanent friends, that's up to me. it has nothing to do with you guys. >> ford has admitted smoking crack but has resisted calls to step down, despite having most of his power stripped away. he's currently running for re-election. >> you know, a lot of people are

making fun of that video, they have been overnight. i have to say, he has quit drinking and if he is drinking again -- >> it's not funny. it's bad. coming up, more calls for a college fraternity to be expelled for having a controversial holiday theme party. we have pictures. right after the break. female announcer: get beautyrest, posturepedic,

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looking at a snow-filled columbus circle in new york city. we've been doing some reporting, some, you owe, on-the-scene reporting there. i can confirm there is in fact

snow on the ground here. it's 4:24 in the east. >> i have a correction. i have to issue a correction. at the top of the hour, i said it was 5:00 a.m. out of habit. it was really 4:00 a.m. so many of you are on line and you're taking me to task. 4:24. outrageous morning from civil rights in arizona. it was directed at a fraternity and a party held for the martin luther king jr. holiday. leaders are demanding arizona state university revoke admission for the cal epsilon after they were dressed in black and holding watermelon cusp. asu has suspended the chapter indefinitely, arizona state university. in florida, researchers are searching for six missing pilot whales stuck in shallow waters off of ft. miers.

scientists are not not sure what led them to shore but they appear to be ill. we're getting a first view inside an orlando area restaurant when an suv crashed through the window. of this crash was left on december 30th. it left several people hurt. police say that driver was drunk. >> the htop headlines and the massive snow and the clean way and the airports. >> that's all the good stuff. for the new mattress models

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this winter storm creating absolute chaos. some parts of the country buried under more than a foot of snow. roads closed. flights grounded. we have complete team coverage this morning. you know what, in some places that snow is still falling. two political scandals creating double trouble for the gop this morning. a former governor charged with corruption, while there are growing calls this morning for a current governor to step down from some of his national responsibilities. welcome back to "early start," everyone. i'm john berman. >> i'm christine romans. it's 30 minutes past the hour for you this morning. >> we hope you're under the covers because the snow, it has been falling fast and furious from the mid-atlantic all the way to the northeast. it just piled up, just here in new york city. there was a lot more down in philadelphia. and this is affecting millions of people from kentucky all the way up to massachusetts. >> yeah, the federal government back in business this morning, but opening a little late.

federal workers in washington, d.c. are being told to come in two lauers later than norm ol or stay home if they can't get in. the d.c. got around 6 inches of snow. it's a good thing many stayed home yesterday. take a look at these pictures from alex sand korea. this is a car spinning out on the beltway. and a fatal accident in andover, maryland. windchills at 5 to 15 below zero. in new york, it will be an awfully tough commute to work. these pictures from long island, hit hard by the storm. about 10 inches of snow fell out there. and look at this in brooklyn, it was hard to walk. gosh, just looks so painful with the snow falling so fast. the plows and shovels, it was hard to keep up. it's icy cold in charlotte, yes, charlotte, north carolina. temperatures have been plunging there around 20 degrees, this after snow fell on the mountains tuesday. not a day to be driving. >> they were doing 180s down the

road earlier. we got behind a scraper that let us go for a little bit. but it didn't work that far. >> smiles on their faces. >> i know. in delaware, the governor says stay off the roads. there's a state of emergency. level 1 driving warnings. that mean don't go. don't go anywhere. parts of the state got well over half a foot of snow. the national guard is now ready to go out and help if the emergency officials there make the request. >> no relief in sight for chicago and northwest indiana. temperatures there dropping. windchills expected to hit 25 below. that, after close to 2 feet of lake-effect snow fell. massive traffic jams late into the night in the windy city, making it difficult for the plows to clear the roads in chicago. >> indra petersons is live in boston this morning. it has been snowing there. indra is keeping an eye on the conditions if she can keep her eyes open with the wind blowing so hard and the cold so fierce. indra, give us a sense of what's going on.

rur know i love it, forget the snow, it's when that wind blows that cold air right in your face. that is what makes it so difficult. and so many of us are going to be dealing with that this morning. here in boston, we didn't get the snow per se in this area, just about 5 inches but massachusetts, a good foot of snow. so much snow fell. philly, seeing over a foot of snow. new york city seeing almost a foot of snow. and how about jersey, a good 15 inches of snow. so an unbelievable 24 hours we have seen, as this low made its way over towards the east coast and intersected with the atlantic ocean. that was the key that changed the clipper as the low developed to bring this huge snowmaker. where is this low right now as we go throughout the day? well, it's pulling offshore. but we still have time here in massachusetts. we're still talking about light snow. wind gusting to 30 miles per hour. here's the key, the low is still strength as it lifts offshore

but still progresses to the north. so with that, we're still talking about stronger winds, expecting the snow blog around and bringing low visibility as we go through the morning hours. so much of that on the cape itself. they still have that ocean-effect snow. you have the winds on the cape and still snow blowing. blizzard warnings there still in effect until 1:00 p.m. other stories, we know it is windy, it is cold. so, yes, very cold temperatures, especially as you bring in that windchill. in the highs, the teens, you add in the windchill, in boston, 7 below. for you guys in new york city a good 5 below, not a comfortable start. hopefully everyone can stay home today. another snow day, please. >> all right, indra, up in boston, thanks for being with us, appreciate it. now, if you're trying to get on a plane this morning, good luck. the delays, cancellations from the storm causing still a lot of problems with air travel.

rene marsh is live in reagan national airport. you know your flight is canceled, do you want to be stuck on a plane. i guess it's two bad choices. >> reporter: exactly, there is really no good choice when you're dealing with really bad weather here. speaking of being stuck. i mean, some people are waking up in the airport this morning. that's their reality. and we expect to see even more cancellations. even more delays today. just right out of the gate this morning, we're already dealing with over 1,000 cancellations. the areas that really is getting socked with these, you know, cancellations and delays right now, boston where we just saw indra. and also new york city airports where you guys are, as well as philadelphia. those are the airports at this hour that are seeing the most cancellations. really, what does that mean for passengers? it means that they're thinking about plan "b," "c," "d" and in some cases "e" and "f." take a listen to some of them, not very happy.

>> canceled. canceled across the board, probably three times now, so far. >> my flight was scheduled to go out this afternoon. i got a call it was rescheduled and i couldn't go until thursday. >> i'm in new york for the night. i have a 2:00 flight out tomorrow is the earliest they can do for me. >> well, i'm going to be missing work, definitely. today is my wife's birthday. i definitely wanted to make it home. unfortunately, that didn't happen. >> got to figure something out. i can't get out until thursday. i'm kind of wrecked. >> all right. so here in the d.c. area, we know that the snow, it has stopped. but the issue now here, it's just cold. you know, driving in, 12 degrees is what i saw on my dashboard there. so you may expect even more delays because they're going to need to deice these planes. and as far as the cancellations go, you know, we started seeing them pop up well before the first snowflake even fell to the ground and started to stick.

this is the new normal. one analyst says that airlines are doing this before the bad weather comes in. and this is what passengers should really expect moving forward. take a listen. >> partly, it's because now the government fines them, when a plane is stuck on the tarmac, you have passengers without food and water for a whole long time. and it can be millions of dollars for a flight. there are millions of reasons why airlines say, you know what, we'd rather cancel lots of flights rather than, perhaps, have that one flight full of stranded passengers. so very much a tradeoff. >> reporter: all right. so there you have it. so next time we hear that bad winter weather is coming our way, this is what it looks like, this is the new normal when it comes for how these airlines are dealing with these storms that are coming our way this winter. back to you, guys. >> and the strains of the smooth jazz belies i think the frayed nerves at reagan national. how are they getting any sleep on the benches with the jazz

music? rur know how they're doing it, christine, they're curling up on these heaters that they have here, and they're just making it work. taking up three seats at a time, doesn't look comfortable but it works. >> a little kenny g getting comfortable. >> you can imagine listening to that for six hours. in minnesota this morning, police on the hunt for a rob here used snow that's fallen there to make his gateway after he struck a convenience store near the twin cities. he apparently pointed a gun at the clerk, grabbed some cash and then got away. >> the person behind the clerk said that the person got away on a snowmobile which is unique. we don't get too many robbers with snowmobiles. >> it does not happen in florida, folks. it's something really that only happens after a snowstorm. virginia's former governor is pledging this morning to fight back now that he and his wife have been indicted on federal corruption charges. bob mcdonnell and his wife marie

stand accused of accepting thousands of dollars of gifts and loans had ft. head of a indict tear supplement company who wanted help promoting his products. at a news conference, mcdonnell said he did nothing illegal. >> i never promised and mr. williams and his company never received any government benefit of any kind from me or from my administration. no contract, loan, grant, funding, legislation, budget appropriation, regulation, border commission assignment or any other official state benefit. and not one penny of taxpayer money went to him or to star scientific during our administration. not one penny. >> mcdonnell claims prosecutors are guilty of what he called unjust overreach. and he says he will be vindicated at trial. >> list of things, they're staggering, rolex was that, clothes, golf round after golf

round. the thing is, though, the gift laws in virginia, very, very lax. we'll see what happens with the federal case. meanwhile, there's new advice for new jersey governor chris christie, that advice, focus on your state. republican former virginia attorney general ken cuccinelli. this is a republican that tells cnn's "crossfire" that he thinks governor christie should give up his role as chairman of the republican governors association and focus all his attention on, instead, fixing his reputation at home. >> i think from the perspective of setting this aside in other races, it makes sense for him to step aside in that role. he does not serve the goals of that organization by stage as chairman. every governor does better by setting everything else aside. if the goal is to be the best governor you can be, that's done by setting everything else aside. >> we should say, even though they're both republicans, no great love between cuccinelli and christie.

christie has said the scandal over the allegations that his top aides strong-armed political opponents will not help his efforts nationally. >> this morning, edward snowden is insisting he's no spy. the admitted nsa leaker tells "the new yorker" he doesn't work for russia. saying he acted alone without any help from any government, despite suggestions on the contrary from some in congress. snowden said he was never intending to live in russia. he was going to cuba but the u.s. canceled his passport. in thailand, a 60-day state of emergency as they paralyze parts of bangkok. demonstrators want her to step aside. thai officials say they have

ruled out universitiesing force to end these rallies. president obama is meeting with a task force responsible for find ways to make voting in this country more efficient and increase access to the polls as republicans also gather in the nation's capital to kick off the rnc winter gathering. they could focus on how their 2016 nominee is chosen. this morning, the family of missing fbi agent is demanding answers and coming forward to what happened to him in iran. bob leavittson disappeared seven years ago. now his family tells cnn's susan candiotti, they knew he was there work for the cia, but they were told not to talk about it for here it could put him in jeopardy. >> he was doing what he always did, which is work for the united states government and investigating criminal activities. and the united states government has not taken ownership of it yet. >> you feel he was abandoned? >> i feel he was left there.

he was the man left behind. >> we were told bit u.s. government by revealing what he actually was doing over there would have been harmful to his safety. >> the family says they want the government to come clean about what bob levinson was doing in iran and they want the obama administration to work harder to bring him home. the dow futures lower. dow closed down 44 points. the nasdaq and s&p closed higher. stocks in london, frank ft. paris all higher. the markets are closing in asia, the nikkei finishing with a gain. here in the u.s., shares of ibm down big. 2.6% in premarket stock trading. you know, late yesterday, the company reported weaker sales. the cfo told analysts ibm is likely to take a $1 billion charge to, quote, rebalance its workforce. analysts say that could mean 10,000 to 15,000 ibm job cuts in

2015. job cuts at texas instruments, that company is going to limb 1100 jobs around the world. shares of texas instruments are down 1% in the premarket. we talk about all this money that companies have in their bank accounts. we talk about a recovering economy. but many big, big companies are nod adding big payrolls. >> and we hear rebalance its workforce. that sounds ominous. yeah. coming up, happening this morning, high-stakes talks to end the war in syria under way, secretary of state john kerry is there. but some key players are not. we are live with the developing story next.

breaking news now from switzerland where world leaders have gathered this morning.

this is for a conference billed as possibly the best chance to end the war in syria. this is the first time that the assad regime and the opposition will meet face-to-face. also, there are officials from dozens of other countries. it is notable, however, who will not be there. iran. and there are real questions this morning if this peace conference will accomplish anything at all. nic robertson live in switzerland this morning. nic, it's on. >> reporter: john, you know, we've been listening to speeches by u.n. secretary-general and russian foreign minister, secretary of state john kerry and then we heard from the syrian foreign minister, he was given 20 minutes to speak. he spoke for 34 minutes. the u.n. secretary-general had to interrupt him three times to get him to stop speaking and to stick to the agenda. a lot of vitriol pointing the pictures at the arab nations.

not a lot if any conciliation coming from them and we heard secretary of state john kerry unequivocally say that bashar al assad cannot be any part of this process going forward. >> there is no way, no way possible, in the imagination, that the man who has led the brutal response to his own people could regain the legitimacy to govern. one man, and those who have supported him can no longer hold an entire nation and a region hostage. >> reporter: and the aim here, in switzerland, is to form a transitional government. we've been listening to the opposition, syria's leader speaking here, listing a catalog of things the syrian government has done. it's clear to see how far these oppositions are apart at the moment. and what we're being told, this is the beginning of a process, but be patient. and everyone working on it will have to be persistent.

but don't expect any results anytime soon, john. >> that sounds like a very difficult atmosphere for progress there. nic robertson in geneva, thanks so much. new developments in a deadly plane crash in aspen earlier this month. we're getting a new look at exactly what happened. a warning some of you may find this video disturbing. these are images taken by infrared cameras. they show the plane bounce off the runway, then fall again and then explode. one person died in that crash, two others were seriously hurt. the cause of the crash still not clear, but the pilot had reported high winds and problems trying to land. no classes today at indiana's purdue university after a shooting death on campus. officials now say one teacher's assistant killed another in the school's electrical engineering building. 23-year-old codey cousins is now being held on suspicion of haum dade. his alleged victim, 21-year-old andrew bolt reportedly worked for the same professor. the suspect is now being held without bond. two in jail this morning,

two maryland women charged with kill two young children in an alleged ex sorism, 28-year-old zakieya avery and 21-year-old monifa sanford, they told for thes they were known as the demon assassins. a 1-year-old and a 2-year-old. prosecutors are seeking a mental determination to determine if these women are competent to stand trial. prosecutors in north carolina are making plans to try again after a grand jury declined to indict a police officer in a fatal shooting. jonathan ferrell was shot and killed by a charlotte officer, he was unarmed and reportedly seeking help after a car crash. the state attorney is reportedly going to reissue it saying the grand jury was missing jurors. an execution dating back 70 years, 14-year-old george sfinny

was put to death in 1934 for killing two white girls. he had no attorney, there was no other evidence and no witnesses. he was 14. and all the trial documents disappeared so his family is asking the judge for a new trial. >> i believe that george stinney could not have committed these murders. i think george stinney saw those children, but i don't think george stinney was the last person to see those children. >> he had no choice in how they died and i think justice was served according to laws in 1944 when this happened. >> judge was only tasked with deciding whether stinney received a fair trial but asked both sides if she really has the power to change what happened. mayors across the u.s. are meeting in washington for annual gathering, a chance to talk to congress and the federal government what they need to run their cities. more than 280 mayors set to attend this event. also in washington,

anti-abortion activists will take part in the march for life marking the 40th anniversary of roe versus wade. the event can draw hundreds of thousands of people from across the country. abortion rights groups also plan events today. more trouble today for toronto's mayor rob ford. the admitted crack smoker now admitting he's been drinking, despite his insistence he's now sober. the latest incident came to light in a youtube video. it shows the mayor of north america's fourth largest city, by the way, he's babbling incoherently at a restaurant and he's speaking with what sounds like a jamaican accent. you can listen. >> i said -- five months, trying to tell me -- look, you know what i mean. he's here i'm here. >> were you drinking last night? >> yes, i was. >> you were drinking?

>> a little bit, yeah. >> do you think that video was offensive to people? >> no, i was with some friends, what i do with my personal life and my personal friends, that's up to me. it has nothing to do with you guys. >> ford has resisted calls to step down, despite having most of his powers stripped away. and he is currently running for re-election. coming up, stay with us, "money time" what's happening with your 401(k). and the biggest money news coming up next.

welcome back to "early start." it's "money time" shares of ibm are down almost 3% in premarket trading. late tuesday, the company reported its steepest drop in quarterly sales in more than four years. china has a struggle with ibm with sales falling 23%. the company announced it will

take a $1 billion restructuring charge. analysts say that could be a signal for 10,000 to 15,000 job cuts in 2015. and texas instruments, the company will trim 1100 jobs worldwide. shares of texas instruments down 1% in the premarket. here's a thought, colleges that will pay your student loan bills. doesn't sound real? it is. a small but growing group of colleges guaranteeing students they will help them pay their student loan bills until they secure a well-paying job. it's known as loan repavement assistance. it's a program that a lot of schools have been doing. law schools have been doing this for years. dozens of private colleges getting on the bandwagon. eight christian colleges offering the programs and students say it was a big attraction in picking the schools. there are some caveats, once a student breaks through an income threshold they will no longer get the assistance.

something to check out, though. this may be the ultimate march madness tool. how does $1 billion sound? yes, $1 billion. warren buffett is going to give $1 billion to the college basketball fan who does the near impossible. forecast a perfect ncaa bracket. the contest is run by quicken loans. it's going to give a billion bucks to the people who correctly pick every winner in the bracket. it will be dolled out over 40 years in annual payments $25 million or lump sum of 500le million. don't fill out your entry, according to borger that.com. the bracket has 9 quintillion possible combinations. i say that's a pretty strong bet for warren buffett that he's not going to have to dole that out. "early start" continues right now. the northeast buried this morning, more than a foot of snow falling in some places.

this brutal winter storm shutting down schools, offices, roads, grounding thousands of planes. indra petersons is outside tracking the storm in boston. rene marsh brings us the latest on the thousands of flight cancellations, she is in washington, d.c. and i am live out on the told streets of new york, where the snow is blowing around from side to side. it is very, very cold this morning. good morning, everyone. welcome to "early start." i'm john berman. >> and i'm christine romans. it is wednesday, january 22nd. and it is exactly 5:00 a.m. in the east. >> so, if you are watching this at 5:00 a.m., the good news is, you made it. you haven't lost power or maybe on the flip side, you're stuck in an airport. whatever the option, we hope you are warm. it did snow here in new york for more than 15 hours. right now, it stopped, but the wind keeps pushing it around every now and then. about a foot of snow here.