>> happy is good. what is yours? bill: i don't do resolutions because we break them by january 10:00. >> hashtag lame. bill: see you this afternoon, everybody. have a happy new year. >> bye. arthel: top headlines and brand new stories you see here first. jon: two deadly terror attacks rock russia weeks best winter olympics about. what russia just said about the deadly bombings and what is the plan to keep athletes safe at the games. two weeks to go before obamacare kickses in. why republicans seem too change their strategy on repeal. plus we'll answer your questions about the new law. nationwide manhunt for a accused cop killer and bank robbery suspect comes to a deadly end as the secret service weighs n why the suspects wagon their radar. it is all "happening now." we begin with a

fox news alert. on the aftermath of a second deadly terror attack in the russian city of volgograd, weeks before the olympic games in sochi. i'm john scoot. arthel: i'm arthel negative in for jenna lee. significanttores say there is enough evidence to link today's deadly bus bombing with another bombing at a train station yesterday with russia likening the bombings to terror at tick in the united states, syria and elsewhere. in today's rush hour attack a trolley bus reduced to twisted wreckage with the roof blown off and bodies and debris strewn across the street. the force of the blast so powerful it blew out windows in nearby apartments. more than be 30 people were killed in the two attacks in the russian city. now there is word the bomb on the bus was packed with identical shrapnel that went off in a rail station yesterday. jon: both attacks on civilian targets, putting folks on edge, raising fears of terrorists striking during the winter

olympics. amy kellogg following story from the london bureau. amy, do authorities know who is responsible for the latest attack? >> reporter: jon, they don't yet know who is responsible for either of the attacks. in fact there are no claims of responsibility. as arthel mentioned, russia's foreign ministry has been talking about terrorism in international terms, linking it to terrorism in other countries. russia's problem is particular. it started out as a separate tivity movement, a very secular movement in chechnya that failed and it morphed into this vehemently radical islamist movement spanning several southern republics of russia, something that never existed before in soviet times and the main radical group in russia which is called the caucuses emirate and threatened to wreak havoc to prevent the winter olympics from happening peacefully. there is rumors they could behind the attacks in volgograd. authorities believe a male suicide bomber was the person

responsible for that killed 14 people that left many injured and including a baby five to eight months old who is now in coma and whose parents have not been found and may be dead. yesterday's bombing in volgograd rail station was captured on cctv cameras and killed 17 people. the first reports it was a female suicide bomber a so-called, black widow, someone avenging the death of a husband or brother that kerryed that out. now, jon, the theory is possibly a man, or a man and a woman working together, jon. jon: why volgograd? >> reporter: why stroll grow gadd, jon. many possibilities. it used to be called stalin grad. it was the scene of a huge battle in world war ii. the city became known for its heroism and recities stance and great loss. also the fact that this happened in a russian city is very important. there are numerous terrorist attacks we barely report on that happen in the north caucuses

region. those don't have the same psychological impact on the people of russia. they are perceived happening almost in a separate part of the country, almost in a separate country i should say, something happening in a very russian city like stroll volgograd volga gra. it is a hub, transportation hub city. a lot of people pass through it to get to sochi in february. that is where the olympics will be held. there is ring of steel, a massive security operation around sochi. the fear talking to analyst that is terrorist groups who want to wreak havoc may try to do so on softer targets, cities not right in the olympics circle but outside, therefore destablizing the country and taking away some of the sheen from this very important event, the olympics, jon. jon: with those coming up,

everyone is on edge there. that is certain to be the case. amy kellogg from london. amy, thank you. arthel: jon, we turn now to obamacare and a last minute surge of people signing up, almost a million people enrolling in december. roughly 10 times more than in the first two months of the disasterous rollout but it is not all good news yet for the administration. the number of enrollees still far short of expectations. doug luzader live in washington. good morning to you, doug. so the white house, you know, has shifted from stonewalling when it comes to enrollment numbers to bragging about them. so how good are these numbers? >> reporter: this is all on a relative scale but the number is pretty good. through the course, since the site opened you're talking about 1.1 million people who have enrolled in health care through the federal exchange and almost a million of those as you mentioned came within the course of just the past month. probably a couple of reasons for that. one has to do with the disasterous website that appears

to be functioning better at least. that helped boost the numbers. so has the end of year deadline itself. remember this date slid a couple times of because of slowly enrollments. many consumers especially those that lost insurance plans because of obamacare may be eager to get coverage in place by the end of the year. tough compare that 1.1 million number to the 7 million that the administration says they really need to make this system viable long term. arthel: doug, when you look beyond the numbers, there are still real questions about the kind of people we're talking about, demographics, the people who are signing up for the plans? >> listen, the demographics issue, arthel will be a big one and probably more important than the numbers the white house is throwing around. you get to the question really who is signing up for the plans? talking about people like pajama boy, young, healthy, cream of the crop as far as the insurance industry is concerned, or are we talking about older, sicker people? when critics look at web site and plans you can get through

it. remember, these are all tiered offerings. you have an offer going bronze, silver, gold, platinum much the expectation a lot of people would sign up for the cheaper plans. critics say no. some evidence points to people signing up for more expensive plans. that gives you the idea of type of people that may be seeking coverage. >> the only reason you would buy a more expensive plan if you think you will tap the health care services because effectively what you're doing to paying higher premiums to pay down the deductibles and co-pays. you only do that if you think you're doing health care. that is an indication this is less healthy population. >> reporter: that could bring into question the stability of entire system. at very least it could change the pricing structures in the years ahead. arthel. arthel: doug, thank you very much for that report. jon: we're going to have much more on obama care in the hour ahead. just what the new year holds just days before coverage begins. our panel takes your questions. you can tweet them to

us, @arthelneville or@jon scott fnc or @happeningnow. we'll have the latest on condition of formula one racing champ, michael schumacher after a terrible accident in the french alps. the deadline looms for a california girl declared brain-dead what was supposed to be a routine surgery. in a few hours the hospital can disconnect her from life-support systems. what her family is doing right now and why they say there is still time for a miracle. >> still a lot of pressure but optimistic in my faith that god will make another way for us. she is making little movements and, you know, she is still get being prayed for. ♪ ho ho ho [ female announcer ] at 100 calories, not all food choices add up. some are giant. some not so giant. when managing your weight,

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jon: so let's talk a little bit more about the new health care law. while republican opposition

remains strong the party's strategy in combating obamacare might be changing now. instead of a full repeal many in the gop are now focusing on reform. listen. >> obamacare is reality. unfortunately it's a failed program that is taking a less than perfect health care system from the standpoint of cost and making it worse. so the damage that obamacare has already done and will do on january 1st, 2nd and third will have to be dealt with as part of any reform. jon: joining me now, david hawking, senior editor for "roll call." he has covered congress for a couple of decades. david, what are you hearing from the republican side what they do now? they have voted time and time again in the house at least to repeal undo, dismantle obamacare. now it is here, it's real, what do they do next? >> well, i think you're right that the efforts to repeal in in this election year are probably

over. they have tried their best. it is not going anywhere and the big debate within the republican circles now is whether to try and legislate and alternative, to propose an alternative to obamacare, or not, just to sit back and, essentially hope that the rollout continues to be more troubled and that the law just looks lousy even after it is implemented. real test starts new year's day when people test drive their new health care and republicans are assuming there will be enough problems with it that the public will be clamoring for changes and they can propose ad administrative changes oar bellyache or lament that the administration is not doing more to change it and probably not in this election year come up with a whole legislative alternative. jon: even prominent republicans like senator lindsey graham, that is the big challenge for

them. what do they do, get out of the way and let health care, let all of its rules and problems attend ant with it, cause problems for democrats or do republicans get aggressive promote at all tern tiff they won't be able to enforce or implement, at least i should say until president obama is no longer in office? >> that's right. there is an old adage in politics it is easier to get people to vote for you if you have something to vote for rather than to stand at the candidate who is against things. there are many republicans who think we should be coming up with some kind of a bigger vision what we would do instead. they talk about reforming, that was a clip from darrell issa i believe you played a minute ago. he was hinting at that. what are the republicans talking about? they say cost is a big issue. what the consumer wants to pay less for health care and they have several ideas for doing so, one of which of course is to

change the whole lawsuit system. to change the whole nation of litigation to take, have fewer lawsuits, have less insurance for doctors to have to pay. they think that would help drive down costs. that is one of their ideas. they're toying between the idea of proposing that and knowing they can't enact a law but telling consumers, voters they would do it differently if you put them in power offer the long term. jon: ever since fdr brought us social security, a enat the same timement program, big program like this, once instituted has never been dismantled, so is obamacare with us to say? >> i think obamacare is with us to stay. i think it would be tough f a republican is elected president in 2016, by that point, the law will have been with us for fully two years. it will be tough to do something that actually takes away insurance presumably by then several million people with have signed up for and will be on.

new medicare beneficiaries will be on. it will be difficult at that point to take it away but there are some things that republicans think they can do to address what was really a driver of this debate going back 20 years which is that medical inflation outstrips regular inflation year after year and that consumers want to be able to spend less for this new benefit. jon: right. that's the question a couple of million people will have. the question is will they like it and what will it cost? those are questions yet to be answered. david hawkings from role call. thank you. >> thank you. arthel: world-renown formula 1 racer michael schumacher is in critical condition in a french hospital this morning after suffering traumatic brain injuries in a skiing accident. his family said he was skiing with his son and fell with his head on a rock. they say he is in a coma. schumacher is a seven-time f1

racing champion. ks beforea reeling from two athletes and spectators go to the olympics. what it will mean at home. we'll go in depth. obamacare town hall, with days to go before coverage kicks in. our panel answering your questions. just tweet us what you want to know @arthelneville. @jonscottfnc or @happeningnow. ooh, homemade soup! yeah... [ male announcer ] campbell's homestyle soup with farm grown veggies. just like yours. huh. [ male announcer ] and roasted white meat chicken. just like yours. [ male announcer ] you'll think it's homemade. i love this show.

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[ male announcer ] you'll think it's homemade. it took a lot of juggling to keep it all together.k.ow. for some low-income families, having broadband internet is a faraway dream. so we created internet essentials, america's largest low-cost internet adoption program. having the internet at home means she has to go no further than the kitchen table to do her homework. now, more than one million americans have been connected at home. it makes it so much better to do homework, when you're at home. welcome to what's next. comcastnbcuniversal. jon: time is quickly running out for a california family facing a medical nightmare. 13-year-old jahi mcmath had complications from what was supposed to be routine tonsil surgery. she has been declared brain-dead now. her family is fighting to get

her moved to a hospital across the country to keep her on life-support. but the hospital where she is now can pull the plug on the teenager later today. adam housley is live at oakland children's hospital with more. so, adam, this clock is ticking way too fast for this family, huh? >> reporter: that's right, jon. about eight 1/2 hours is all they have left in order to find another place to take jahi. we're being told there is really no location that has been secured there was some talk there might be a location in new york, southern california, here in the bay area, but as of this hour, eight 1/2 hours from now a judge's order will expire and that will allow the hospital to remove of the young teenager from a ventilator and remove the feeding tube as well. as you talk to the hospital, when they come out to talk toot press they have been adamant while supporting the family they say this teenager is their minds, dead. take a listen. >> the judge looked the family

in the eye and said i'm very sorry to give you this information but jahi mcmath is brain-dead. there is unfortunately no amount of hope, no amount of prayer that can bring her back. >> reporter: now there have been a number of vigils the last two weeks or so since she has been here. over the weekend there were more vigils. there was fund raiser in hayward, california. the family raised around$2,000 to move the patient, but again, at this hour there is still no location in the country that has been secured to move her. we know she has been pronounced brain-dead by two different doctors. including the first doctor here at children's hospital. the judge's order is set to expire 5:00 local. 8en tonight. unless there is someplace secured it will take a miracle to move this 13-year-old to another location. her stepfather and her family, jon, say they're still optimistic at this hour. they hope a judge will rule or a

location will open up, but, again, eight 1/2 hours from now the final decision will be made here at this hospital in oakland. jon? >> we'll certainly keep an eye on that very sad story. adam housley, thank you. right now high alert in russia. just weeks before the winter olympics games after two deadly bombings rock the country. one blast there ripping apart a trolley bus during a rush hour attack. arthel: in that attack, jon, a day after a similar bomb blew up at the main rail station in the same russian city. more than 30 people were killed in both attacks and investigators say the blasts are linked, raising fears that terrorists may ramp up the violence and strike out during the upcoming winter games. joining us now, peter brookes, former cia officer and senior fellow for national security affairs at the heritage foundation. peter, good morning. >> good morning. arthel: so as you know the russia's official alert, alert

level remains at yellow, not red. i ask you how should the russian government react to this? to keep people safe but not play into the hands of terrorists? >> yeah, it's a tough one obviously because the olympics are coming up. it is very important to russian president vladmir putin. he doesn't want to be deprived of this public relations victory, bringing the world, 85 countries, 6,000 athletes, heads of states to his country to showcase the sochi olympics. he has to be very careful here. the russians are tough on terrorists in the caucuses region. he is not saying much right now. think there is reason for that. he wants to be very cautious and not turn visitors or heads of state from coming or even athletes coming to sochi in the coming days. he will have deal with this very, very carefully if he wants not to create a pall over the olympic that is started because of these terrible attacks.

arthel: you mentioned something about embarrassing putin. is that their goal is there, strictly to terrorize or something else behind isn't. >> we don't know, nobody has taken claim for this as far as i know, arthel. we're assuming there is chechen islamist militants. they want an independent state, an independent islamist state. they have been fighting russia for a long time. their leader, there was a bit bf a truce between the russians and chechens for a while, these chechen groups, no attacks on civilians. he has troped that. the leader, you march love, he decided to attack -- you march love. this is major event. domestic audience for put tin. he wants to look as leader of the country but also an international event. this, terrorism is a psychological game. public relations is involved here. i see chechens having advantage

unfortunately because possibilities for a public relations victory for them. russia look insecure. putin looks bad and it will be very difficult for them to react in a way that will not make the situation worse while at the same time providing security for the people of russia and all those people coming to sochi. arthel: peter, surely putin and the russian government had to anticipate something like this. what strategy do you think they had in place? >> obviously the security around sochi is very, very tight. obviously in the days coming up to the olympics we're 40 some days away from that. it even extended before that. intelligence service and law enforcement have been working very, very hard. it shows despite these efforts the vulnerability against terrorists like this, suicide bombers. we talk about smart weapons. we talk about, cruise missiles. we talk about "gravity" bombs as smart weapons. the ultimate smart weapon is the human being. that is what these terrible

terrorist acts were perpetrated by. people got on a trolley bus and went into a railway station. those you what real challenges they're up against. arthel, they don't have to at lack the olympics to make a huge international splash. while olympics are going on they could attack volgograd and st. petersburg. so much attention will be on the sochi and russian security forces. it will be very, very difficult. this is the last thing the kremlin wanted to see in the days coming up for this very important event for them. arthel: peter brookes. thank you for your expertise. >> thanks for having me. jon: an accused cop killer on the run sparking a nationwide manhunt before he was tracked down this weekend. why he was on the radar of the secret service. plus a massive volcano awakens from a decades-long slumber. it is spewing tons of rock and ash into the sky.

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on accused cop killer and bank robbery suspect shot dead this weekend after a nationwide manhunt. agents say the suspect was no stranger to the law. wanted for string of rob business in mississippi, arizona and georgia but he was arrested in 2010 for making online threats to the president. jonathan serrie live in atlanta. what else have investigators learned about this guy, jonathan. >> reporter: jon, the claire ron ledger newspaper out of mississippi is reporting that mario garnett served time in federal prisons for threats he allegedly made against president obama back in 2010. police say garnett is from the midwest and served four years in the army and even before investigators had identified him officers noticed that the suspect in these bank robberies was using certain tactics, especially when firing weapons, suggesting that he might have had military training, jon? jon: so what finally brought him

down? >> reporter: quick thinking on the part of a 911 caller. someone noticed a man running into that bank in phoenix, arizona wearing a mask. instead of waiting for the robbery to go down and call the police after the fact, the 911 caller made that call to authorities right away. in fact an officer arrived at the scene just as the suspect was leaving the bank carrying a bag. that officer yelled some orders at the suspect. says the suspect custodies obeyed, threw the bag in a car he had been driving and opened fire on the officer. but a detective who was working an unrelated case nearby had also responded to the scene of the bank and returned fire with a fatal shot to the suspect. listen. >> chills me to think about what might have happened had he not responded, based on the information that we have now. >> reporter: phoenix police expressed condolences to their colleagues in tupelo,

mississippi. that's where police officer kevin gale photographer was fatally thought during a similar confrontation with a bank robbery where investigators believe was committed by the very same suspect. a second tupelo officer, joseph maher remains hospitalized but authorities say his condition is improving. back to you. jon: our condolences to the family of officer stouffer, thank you. arthel: white house claiming major progress on obamacare. a million people signing up through the federal exchange thus far, a dramatic increase but still far short where the administration thought we would be by now. many questions remain what will happen with the health care law in the new year as people actually begin using their insurance. joining me now, to answer some of your questions, michael mahoney, senior vice president of consumer marketing at gohealth, a private company that helps people sign up for

insurance. michael weinberg, senior policy advisor to the bay area council, and obec roy, senior fellow at the manhattan institute. good to see awe you will gentlemen this morning. >> thank you. >> nice to see you. arthel: we'll let you field the questions. i'll go with you, michael, go with you first here is something from at scooter smith. he says, i operate a small business. what will be the tax rate applied to employer-funded health care premiums in 2014? >> well it really depends. employers have it a little bit harder than anybody else. they have to understand if they're a small employer or not. are you above or below 50 employees. one of the biggest things for small businesses was pushout of a requirement to offer insurance until next year. so i say just to start there. understand if you should offering insurance to your employees in the first place, if you're forced to do so.

arthel: if anyone wants to chime in, let me know otherwise i move to the next tweet. i will move on. this is at copper field. where is the plan for infrastructure and care for influx of patients seeking care with decrease of mds and hcps? i will go with you, michael on this one. >> yeah, sure. one thing important to understand, this is taking some time. it is not as if there there wile millions of people at the doors of hospitals on january 1st clamoring for care. this will happen over the course of many years but as it does we really have to reform our delivery system, not necessarily creating new health professionals so much as making sure we're using them efficiently. using nurse practitioners and independent practice and reforming the way we deliver health care is critical. arthel: i will go you with you on this one. this is karen. how many of the recently one

million signed up have paid for coverage? i haven't heard that answer on any of the morning shows yet. do you happen to know? >> that is a great question. i wrote about this with my forbes column today. there is big difference selecting the plan, which is the number the obama administration is reporting and actually enrolling in health insurance. to enroll in health insurance you have to pay the first month's people why. most recent feedback from insurers about 5 to 15% of people who select ad plan actually paid first month's premium. they don't have coverage until they pay the first month's premium. there is another important point to understand. we're overemphasizing this top line number of how many people actually signed up. the more important number is how many healthy people signed up. the way obamacare works. it requires healthy people to pay a lot more for insurance so sicker people pay less. that is great deal for sicker people. not necessarily for healthy people. administration is having a tough

time getting healthy people to sign up. they're not disclosing the number. i hope that is something reporters will press the white house on. arthel: how big will the premium be? do they know that yet. >> if they select ad plan on healthcare.gov they know what the premium will be. that is for people who shop on their own, don't get it from employer. we'll second half of next year, how obamacare affect the people who obtain insurance for their employers. a lot of employers renewed plans in 2013 to avoid obamacare regulations for another 12 months. once we get into the second half of 2014 those costs will go up too. there will be a new round of sticker shot for a lot of americans. arthel: micah, let me move back to you now. this is from facebook. beth is saying how can he expect anyone to sign up when there is potential of your identity being stolen or no way to pay are you really signed up? >> those are good questions and

that is absolutely a concern. through us you can sign up and do what you can on healthcare.gov, including defiber-opticking your subsidy. so the same stipulations eye rise in terms of protecting your identity. as far as knowing when you're signed up, you're right, there are two points. selecting a plan and actually paying the carrier. we have gotten at love calls from consumers sign up who say, i haven't heard from the carrier yet. we facilitate that to get them to the carrier to sign up. consumers need to know they're not actually signed up in their terms they pay the first month premium. at which point they can use their insurance. arthel: michael, i want to follow up with you. once you are signed up and know you can use your insurance, do you get an insurance card in the mail? how do you know you're ready to go? >> so nothing has changed about the way insurance operates. it's new to a lot of people. so a lot of people that are

signing up have not had insurance before. so the biggest concern from our perspective people select a plan, say, great, i got this. they show up at hospital turns out they haven't paid premium and they don't have insurance. you're right, it is the same it was in the past you have a insurance card and welcome packet and information about your plan. that will come straight from the carrier. arthel: we have more questions. thanks for sending your questions. we're out of time right now. michael weinberg, i want to thank you and mike waa weinberg and obec roy and thank you for tweeting and facebooking your questions to us at happening now. jon: a lot of questions remain. backlash of "the new york times" investigation into the benghazi attack. sources on the ground at the time say "the times" account is completely false. 13-year-old girl is declared brain-dead. we told you her story a moment ago. the family still believes jahi

is alive. can the hospital pull the plug eight hours from now. our legal panel weighs in next. and protect financial futures. to help communities recover and rebuild. for companies going from garage to global. on the ground, in the air, even into space. we repaid every dollar america lent us. and gave america back a profit. we're here to keep our promises. to help you realize a better tomorrow. from the families of aig, happy holidays.

jon: as we mentioned we're just about eight hours away from a critical deadline for a california family battling to keep their girl on life-support. 13-year-old jahi mcmath was declared brain-dead after complications what was supposed to be routine tonsil surgery. her family is now making last-ditch efforts to get her moved to a new hospital or or other facility. a court ruled the oakland hospital where she is now can pull the plug at 5:00 p.m. california time today. >> two weeks ago she was pronounced dead at this hospital she was brain-dead. an independent physician came in and determined again she was brain-dead. there was no question of that. jon: joining me now, jonna spill boring, criminal defense attorney, and phil snyder a former prosecutor. what a heart-breaking case, but

is the hospital within its rights to once the judge's order maintaining the life-support expires, 5:00 p.m. california today is the hospital within its rights to pull the plug? >> unfortunately the short answer is yes. so what the family needs to do is avoid that, they need another job to actually order children's hospital to up certificate a feeding tube and breathing tube in jahi, because if that happens, apparently there is another facility willing to take her long term. so they have, the family has to stand in front after judge and ask the judge to render that order. i don't think there is a judge in the world who can look this family in the face and say i'm not going to order that. even though the hospital can pull the plug at 5:00 i don't think it is going to happen. jon: she needs breathing and feeding tubes inserted before the transfer. the hospital is saying, phil, that she is dead. why would you undertake those operations then on a dead body? >> you know, i agree, jonna, i have to disagree with you on

this case. the judge already looked at this says you have until this deadline. if you can't find someone to take the individual the hospital is obligated to pull the plug. two doctors have said she is dead. this is not she is in vegetative state. she is brain-dead. the other facility in new york has not comfort with the name to take her under the provisions of the injunction. for that matter i do not see a judge extending this i think at 5:00 p.m. today the hospital will take her off life-support. jon: what about liability if she goes to second facility? what about the liability, if she is in fact brain-dead, eventually her body will declay and her heart is going to stop and she will die a second time, jonna. if you call it that. what about the liability this place would be taking on? >> i think that issue would be vetted out before they actually

accept jahi at the facility. the family will have to sign some sort of waiver but i think, respectfully, phil, if you have a parent sitting in front after judge, with a director of another facility at the moment but apparently secured saying we will take her if, i don't think a judge will deny this family a chaps at a miracle because that is what the family needs. i agree. she is declared brain-dead by two or three different doctors. but i know what? the family is allowed to hold out hope. this was a tragedy in the beginning. god is only one that can perform miracles. not the judge. not the doctors. jon: we'll see what happens with the deadline eight hours from now. jonna spill boring, phil snyder thank you. arthel: a homicide bomber kills 14 people in russia in the second deadly attack in the same city in two days. the blast is raising concerns about safety in the in the city with the winter olympics weeks away.

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arthel: we heard a lot in recent years about income inequality, especially after the recession. many questioning the strength of the american dream often known as being able to buy a house and couple of cars but now, a stanford university professor says people are underestimating the american dream and focusing too much on material gain. he writes this. if the american dream is dismissed as dead or never existing or coin find to its narrowest dimensions of material gain it may seem that our future prospects are dim, but for those who appreciate the elevated meanings of the american dream that have triggered hope in good times and bad, it can be

self-fulfilling prophecy, a harbinger for a nation that is still rising. the author joins me now, bill damon, director of the stanford center on adolescents. bill, good morning to you. >> good morning. arthel: what does that mean? >> well it means, first of all the american dream always had deeper meanings that simply material prosperity. material gain is an important part of it especially for people that start off with little or nothing and economic opportunity of course is important but, the american dream has always had a spiritual meaning, a sense of following your own destiny, of making your own choices in life. following your conscience, without somebody in power tell telling you you have to do it their way and becoming the kind of person you believe in. i think that part of the idea of

the american dream has dropped off the radar screen unfortunately in our recent public discourse. arthel: how did we stray away from that, do you think? >> i think for one thing there is a lot of cynicism right now and people have i think mistakenly taken statistics on social mobility to mean that there's no hope left. that, there is a whole industry of books that have subtitles like, the disappearing american dream, the futile pursuit of the american dream, dream is a myth, and i think that, first of all it is not true. and secondly it is a very discouraging message especially for young people who do have hope and prospects. as i said in that piece, it kind of become as self-fulfilling prophecy when you get so pessimistic you give up on aspirations. arthel: bill, what do you say to those wrung people now?

a lot of young people have done the right thing. they have gone to college. they graduated. they are having trouble finding jobs. what do you say to them, i did it, spent four years, six years, whatever and some are going right back into their parents home because they're not getting the job to start the american dream to get the house with a white picket fence, what do you say with them? >> you say first of all, stick with it. all the statistics in the world do not pertain to you. there are lots of individual cases of success of people who still work hard, find opportunity, and in fact, i've seen a lot of young people move on in life and, yes, things can be difficult for a while, especially during economic downturns, but, if a young person works hard, has a lost integrity, really, has a sense of purpose and follows their dream, i would bet that young person has a very good prospect of making it in this country at

this time. arthel: bill, i apologize. i have to move it along but i'm running out of time. i want to jump in with this before you go. i heard everything you said but there are still some people who feel they're doing the right thing and they're not given the same level playing field, if you will, they're not getting those opportunities. >> right. arthel: what do you say to those people? >> well, first of all, we ought to be concerned as a society to provide as much opportunity for every young person as we can in this country. and that is something we have to work on in our education system and all over the place. but i say to that young person, don't give up. there is hope. and don't get pessimistic. especially don't get discouraged by people that say, you know, there is no point in trying anymore because the playing field is really working against you. that, is lots of opportunity in this country and opportunity for people that start off in any position. and as i said earlier, optimism

itself is a asset. it is something that, that helps you in life especially when you're young. so stay optimistic. arthel: okay. bill damon, seeing we're about to get rid of 2013 and bring in a new year we'll grab on to the optimism and hope it carries us through. thank you very much, bill damon. >> thank you. jon: like that optimism. arthel: yes. jon: all right, from the american dream we are gearing up for an all-american new year celebration. organizers of the times square ball drop, testing out confetti before the big party to make sure it flutters just right. a ton of confetti expected to rain down in 2014 in times square. it will not be blank. each little paper nugget willed with wishes down by international visitors to new york. you can catch all the fun on fox news channel. bill hemmer and elisabeth hasslebeck host the all america

new year beginning at 9:00 p.m. arthel: a cruise ship is stranded. a race against time to get passengers rescued on board.

jon: fox news alert now and a deadly attack rocks one russian city just weeks before the winter olympics. a homicide bomber detonating inside a troler in volgograd. the blast kills 14 people there. the second attack in as many days. this bomb exploding in a busy train station yesterday, killing although least 14 people and wounds dozens of others. witnesses describe the chaos. >> the blast hit me so unexpectedly, i didn't understand what was going on. glass everywhere, window frames blown out. you understand. i started helping others. ordinary people were picking up

others and putting them in cars of civilians to get to the hospital. jon: attack raising concerns about the winter olympics in february. no one is claiming responsibility, however, chechen rebel leaders have called for an increase in terrorism ahead of the games. >> another fox news alert. this one from one of the coldest places on earth. a second ice breaker now joining the mission to rescue a ship stranded in antarctica and bringing the 74 people on board to safety. jonathan hunt is live here in the studio with details. good news, they still have food available. >> food for a couple of weeks at this point but this whole rescue operation is proving to be a lot tougher than anybody thought it might be. a second ice break he were -- breaker trying to get to the stricken ship today. like the chinese ice breaker

before it, this one has now had to turn back. the ice 15 feet thick in some places and bad weather, meaning they simply couldn't go ahead with the mission. now the captain of that ice breaker simply hoping for better weather. listen here. >> there's some clear weather. it's been pretty foggy and snowing so we want to see a good sight of what the situation is and act accordingly. >> it's increasingly likely they may have to evacuate the 74 on board by helicopter. a helicopter from the chinese ice breaker, the snow dragon, did a fly pass yesterday but this kind of rescue mission would also have a lot of difficulties and a lot of danger. the ice is thinning out in some places so it would be difficult for the helicopter to find a stable part to land on.

on top of that, you then have to get the 74 passengers and crew off of the ship. they would have to walk across the ice. that's also increasingly dangerous and it looks certain that the 74 souls are going to spend their new year's eve on board that ship. it's going to be a couple of days at least before they have the next opportunity to get them off. >> i hope they can get them to safety. thank you so much. >> new developments on our top stories and breaking news this hour. jon: a last minute surge for obamacare pushing enrollment past one million americans but will it make a difference when plans kick in come january 1? "new york times" report said that al qaeda was not behind the deadly benghazi attacks. are they just plain wrong? and another round of wicked weather heading north as thousands of homes remain without power more than a week.

these stories and more all happening now. jon: back to top story now. the white house releases new numbers on obamacare enrollment, more than a million people have signed up on the federal marketplace. good morning. welcome to a brand new hour of "happening now." arthel: good to see you all. now experts are saying a last minute surge on the state run exchanges could push the enrollment numbers past two million but the true test begins on january 1 when people can actually start using their new insurance. jon: joining us now is joseph, an editorial board member for the "wall street journal." so a million people are signed up, joseph. is that a success? >> well, it's certainly a success compared to before where it was, you know, several thousand people signing up. but no.

i don't think it's not a success. if you think about it, five or six million people have had their health care cancelled. so if you have a million signups, we have negative four million in terms of health coverage. jon: and what are the four million people or so who have had their health care policies cancelled and don't have new ones in place yet, what are they supposed to do should they get sick after the first every the year? >> i think that's what the white house is terrified of. if you look at the sort of various role changes they made through executive fiat, through the month of december, they're deeply worried about people who lost their coverage and can't get new coverage. jon: also, the white house and the department of health and human services aren't releasing really any information about the people who are signing up. yes, we're getting some numbers. you know, more than a million, but we don't know their ages and

some other very important information that could have an impact in the way this whole program works z. we don't know their health status, what type of plan they're choosing, what their ages are and i think if that was a success, if we were seeing the kind of enrollment mix that is necessary to make the economics of this plan work, they would be releasing it. the fact that they're not, that they're actively concealing this information, i think is very telling. the state exchanges are releasing demographic information. california, for instance, the fact that the federal exchanges for 36 states, that this information is not public again, i think it's very telling. jon: also remains to be seen how many people actually will pay because there are premiums attached to these policies. right? >> right. what hhs. is releasing is a

standard that does not exist in the health care industry. what it is is people who have selected a plan but have not paid the first month's premium, which is when coverage normally starts and i think the big question will be, what kind -- will people be happy with this coverage? these are very narrow network plans, limited choice of physician, limited choice of hospitals and are they going to like it? i think it's more accurate to call it obama cade because it's close to medicaid and this is not what people expect from normal, private insurance. jon: also pretty heidi dedu deductible s which is going to shock a lot of people should they need to access their health care. thank you. >> thanks. arthel: extreme weather alert now.

severe winter storm sweeping across the great plains and parts of the midwest over the weekend. the blizzard bringing fierce winds, ice and freezing temperatures to millions of people. in minnesota, authorities believe the weight of the snow from the storm caused an awning at a historic apartment complex to completely collapse. look at that. narrowly missing several people who were nearby. maria is live at the fox news weather center with more. i mean, this is some really cold weather out there, huh? >> very cold temperatures and also extreme snowfall across portions of new england. yesterday we saw the storm move across portions of the northeast and in places like new york city and the i-95 corridor, temperatures are too mild to see any snowfall but in new england, we saw -- take a look at these totals up here. up to 13 inches in one spot in bryant pond. otherwise, the current temperatures very cold out there. right now it's currently five

degrees below zero minneapolis, single digits for you in chicago. you factor in a little breeze and this is what it actually feels like as you head out the door. it feels like 18 below zero in minneapolis. in other areas, very widespread. we're looking at cold temperatures so the other areas cold right now, utah in the teens. only in the 30's for you in denver and alburquerque. texas also feeling cold out there like in dallas where your current wind chill temperature is just 27 degrees. even memphis for you, 32 degrees for the current wind chill temperature. we're going to see another storm system develop across portions of the northern plains and also across the midwest and this is going to be a relatively quick moving slipper system but by wednesday it's going to be intensifying. in some areas in wisconsin, northern illinois, iowa and southern minnesota could see more than six inches of snow. this will be something to watch and some of the energy from that storm can actually combine with a new storm we'll develop and we could have a nor'easter coming

up thursday into friday. across the northeast we could look at rough weather to wrap up the work week. otherwise, temperatures with that storm, look how cold they're going to get. single digits in buffalo for the actual high temperature, 17 in new york city and boston, actual high temperature in the teens. at night looking at single digits and the wind chills are going to be below zero so it will be very cold out there to kick off the new year. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. jon: now that fox news alert in the "new york times" reporting that michelle snyder, who is the woman in charge of the rollout of obamacare, is retiring. she was the chief operating officer at the agency in charge of allocations of resources, budget and personnel. other folks at h.h.s. are saying this is just her personal decision to retire, that she had wanted to do so a year earlier. however, there are critics who point out that basically she is

the point person for the messy rollout for the website and other problems that went with the rollout of obamacare and that hers was a head that had to roll. at any rate, she's retiring from the department of health and human services. in the meantime, afghanistan could be on a slippery slope. what a new u.s. intelligence report is warning about the future of that country after so many sacrifices made by our brave troops there. plus growing outrage over a "new york times" report claiming al qaeda was not involved in the deadly terror attack in benghazi. is it really all the news that is fit to print or is the paper playing politics? our media panel debates. so, this board gives me rates for progressive direct and other car insurance companies? yes. but you're progressive, and they're them. yes. but they're here. yes.

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arthel: new u.s. intelligence report painting a grim picture on the future of afghanistan. it warns that the games made to our brave troops will be mostly gone by 2017 predicting this will happen even if some u.s. troops remain in the country. at the same time, it finds the taliban and other militant groups gaining ground. on top of this, it says afghanistan will plunge into chaos unless it signs a security deal with the united states that will keep troops there beyond next year. and finally, intelligence analysts are saying that they're anticipating the central government in kabul will grow increasingly irrelevant in the country's affairs. our next guest has been to afghanistan 10 times. he is the senior fellow at the brookings institute. michael, good to see you. >> thank you. likewise. arthel: first of all, what is your take away? is it as bleak and black and white as some of the american intelligence officials believe

it to be? >> from what i can tell of this report, and i'm sure there's a lot of very smart thinking and research within it, the overall headline is not quite correct. at least the way it's being summarized, for example, in yesterday's "the washington post" story. the idea that we can confidently predict growing taliban influence in afghanistan i think is not right. there's a chance of that. and certainly if you're going to project out multiple scenarios, you have to worry about that being one of them. i agree with the report when it says that if there's no ongoing u.s. or international presence unless u.s. and international aid than currently planned, that's bad news. that probably means the taliban will have a good prospect for returning to power and granting sanctuary to extremists. but i think we have to look at some of the more positive developments. we can get into those if you wish but beginning with the army and police in afghanistan having basically held their positions all through 2013 when we have

really downsized our own role in this war. that's encouraging news and i'm not sure it's reflected adequately in the report. arthel: so you're saying, listen, people. you don't feel like there's a sudden rise of the taliban. you feel that the afghan army will have a presence there. >> yeah. the taliban is strong. a lot stronger than we would like and they've continued to be resilient even in the face of our troop surges over the years and the work of stan and dave petraeus and john allen and the other great american men and women in uniform fighting as far as this huge coalition and through it all, taliban stayed resilient and i have to acknowledge that's been very disappointing and somewhat surprising. having said that, this year what happened was the international presence really got cut by more than half and yet, the taliban did not gain territory. the major cities, the major transportation arteries are still in government hands. now, admittedly they're backed up by us when they get into a pinch but they're doing 95% of

the major operations themselves with minimal or no help. and i think that's very encouraging news. so we should certainly not be fatalistic about afghanistan. arthel: let me get back to the impact of the report and michael, i want to ask you two pronged question here. what's the impact of this report of president obama's deadline of pulling troops out of afghanistan by the next year and that tenuous negotiations to provide legal coverage and security for the international troops who might be left in place? and then talk about the physche of the american people. >> right. well, first of all, i think president hamid karzai or his successor, and let's not forget there's a presidential race brewing in afghanistan, the elections are scheduled for april and they'll probably be held on time or nearly on time and i think any of the people who could be sitting in the afghan ball as come spring or summer would want a deal with the u.s. because they don't want the taliban to come back to power and they're realistic enough at the end of the day to

know they still need at least some limited amount of help. a lot less than they've had before but still some. i think president hamid karzai knows that but he's withholding the signature. he thinks we want the basis so desperately that we will, therefore, be less difficult to deal with if he has leverage over us. i don't agree with his analysis but that's the way he views it. i think it does make some americans, some policy makers, some in congress worry that perhaps it's not worth sustaining the earth but for president obama, if i was going to venture a prediction, not knowing the man and not having spoken with him about this, it would still become largely his war. it's the war he campaigned on as the right war in 2007, 2008. he tripled american combat forces. arthel: and he did that at the request of the military officials in charge at the time. >> yes, but he also asked them to do an assessment through secretary gates and he's the one that approved putting stan

mcchrystal in charge. he put a much greater focus on the war and therefore, it's hard for him to walk away from it just because he thinks there's a chance it won't work down the line. i think president obama in the end will continue to limit our exposure here and try to minimize our presence but still not pull the plug. it's not really an option that i think he has available to him. arthel: i have to leave it there. thank you very much for your time, sir. >> thank you very much. jon: a former director of the c.i.a. has some harsh new comments about edward snowden. coming up, why he new considers the n.s.a. leaker a full blown trader. and if you're one of the millions of americans resolve to go lose some pounds in the new year, we have the tips you need to hear about making a plan and sticking to it.

jon: man who once headed the national security agency and the c.i.a. is changing his tune about edward snowden. michael haydens says he views him now as a traitor. here is more on that. >> hi, jon. general hayden says the u.s. discovered previous secret sellers and most were u.s. citizens working for the soviets or russians. but he's saying snowden as something different. >> i used to say he was a defector and there's a history of defection. there's a history of defection to moscow and he seems to be part of that string. i'm now kind of drifting in the direction of perhaps more harsh language. >> such as? >> such as traitor. >> based on what? >> past two weeks, in open letters to the german and the

brazilian government, he has offered to reveal more american secrets to those governments in return for something. >> hayden says it will take years, even decades for the c.i.a. and u.s. intelligence to recover from snowden's disclosure but not everyone agrees with him as a traitor of the one former n.s.a. employee, who exposed some n.s.a. exposure techniques praised what snowden has done. >> i don't consider him a traitor at all. he's a whistle blower. he exposed information. it's unconstitutionality in the fact we're losing huge, huge amounts of trust overseas. >> snowden, who gave a christmas message on a british tv channel last week said a child born today will, quote, never know what it means to have a private moment to themselves. jon: molly, thank you. arthel: new reaction to a report in the "new york times" saying al qaeda was not involved in the

deadly attack in benghazi. now some sources on the ground call the findings, quote, totally false. we'll have a fair and balanced debate. and demonstrators pushing for better pay but could the real cost of higher minimum wage be more jobs?

jon: "new york times" publishing a detailed investigation into the deadly attack on our consulate in benghazi a year ago. the times contra dinthing what we've been reporting for months saying that al qaeda was not involved in the september 11 attack. instead agreeing the white house's preliminary findings an american made video mocking islam led to the violence that killed four brave americans, including chris stevens. our sources on the ground say they are enraged over the report but will the new findings have any impact? or as former secretary of state hillary clinton so famously put it -- >> the fact is, we have four dead americans. was it because of a protest or because of guys out for a walk one night who decided to kill americans, what point does it

make? jon: chris wallace asked mike rogers on fox news sunday whether this was about politics and timing. >> do you think there is a political motivation to this times report? some people have suggested this is trying to clear the deck for hillary clinton in 2016. >> i don't know but i find it interesting there's a rollout of stories, including susan rice who would go on tv and have a direct discussion about this when we still have an ongoing discussion in the house and intelligence committee. rick: joining me is jim pickerington and alan colmes. both are fox news contributors so we have to remember, jim, at the time of the benghazi attack, the president was saying that al qaeda was on the run. he was also running for re-election. so there was a lot of thinking that having an al qaeda connection into this benghazi attack would not be seen as enhancing the president's re-election chances. now the "new york times" has undertaken this investigation. is that the end of the story?

>> that's certainly the way they want to play it, isn't it? they wanted to keep the al qaeda connection away from president obama as he's running for re-election in 2012 and i a degree with chairman rogers. they want to keep the same thing away from hillary clinton in 2016. i think that this has a lot to do with, as chris wallace said, clearing the decks. they can say going forward if, in fact, hillary clinton runs, oh, we've answered those questions. read "the new york times." it's all settled. that won't persuade everybody, including the people listening to this network but it might be enough to get the mainstream media to say, listen. move along, folks. this is a diversion. just right wingers trying to tar up our great future president, hillary clinton. jon: the times talked about a man who was a militia leader. they say he had no connection to al qaeda whatsoever. but, in fact, there are -- well, here's part of the times quote. from this most recent article

over the weekend, months of investigation by the "new york times" centered on extensive interview who had direct contact, turned up no evidence that al qaeda or other international terrorist groups had any role in the assault. three congressional investigations and a state department inquiry are now examining the attack. this is the times piece from more than a year ago which american officials said included participants from al qaeda and other groups, militant groups in ee kwipt. i didn't run those back to back very clearly there, but the point was that a year ago, the times was reporting al qaeda was involved. which is it? >> i think a lot of information has gone as more people on the ground have come forward and talked and whether or not, look. daryl isa who has said he wants to spend 40 weeks, seven days a

week investigating barack obama before he took over the house oversight committee suddenly on television yesterday says that he doesn't matter whether it's al qaeda or not. even though he's the one that said all along, it's al qaeda. converse to what you said before is that conservatives want to make it to be al qaeda as if it's proof that president obama had a done a goodon decimating al qaeda. this is all political play and i would think the cairo chief of the "new york times" probably knows more about what happened on the ground than daryl isa or his republican compatriots who are on a mission to try to find a scandal in this administration. jon: by the same token, jim, you could say the number two diplomat at the compound in benghazi would know a fair amount about what led up to the protests and he said the video was not involved. >> right. i think this is an important point here. it's not really the question of whether al qaeda run by the late

al qaeda personally directed this mission. the point was the original administration line in september of 2012 was a spontaneous attack made by the video. that's what they wanted to get across. it was people getting angry like in cairo the day before over the muhammad video that according to greg hicks, nobody in libya saw it. they wanted to get away from the idea that it was anything -- that it was planned or coordinated, whether it's al qaeda or al qaeda affiliate or wanna-bes, nobody could have seen it coming. they're still fighting to get it across which is to say there's nothing larger here. you can't hold obama or susan rice or hillary clinton responsible for a sloppy protection. the only one you could blame is the late ambassador stevens. they do blame him. jon: what about the president's promise we were going to get to the bottom of this and justice was going to be done and we were going to find the people who mounted this attack?

>> that promise exists still. the problem is that we attacked a country that's now run by militias in certain parts and libya has not been cooperating in every case in trying to help us get to the people like the person you mentioned who might be one of the suspects. so, you know, obviously -- and a number of names were listed in the "new york times" piece. let's say something else. i know conservatives hate when i do this but the fact is why was the press so negligent in not talking about during the bush administration there were 13 attacks on different embassies? some of the embassies more than once resulting in 98 deaths. where has been the media and where has been the conservative outrage about that that happened post 9/11? what about 9/11? oh, yeah. that happened on bush's watch, too. why is there no outrage, no comparable outrage about what happened during the last administration when embassies were attacked more than once, including dozens and dozens of deaths? jon: all right. good suggestion.

thank you both. arthel: as the debate over raising the federal minimum wage heats up in washington, d.c., one city in washington state is experiencing firsthand what it's really like to have the highest minimum wage in the country. dan springer is live in seattle with more. dan? >> hi. opponents of the $15 minimum wage in washington scored a big legal victory on friday when the judge ruled it does not apply to any workers at the airport. the ruling says only the port of seattle has the wages and workplace rules within the tacoma airport. supporters say they'll appeal but that means 4700 airport workers won't be getting a big raise january 1. hotel and transportation workers outside the airport, however, will see their pay go up wednesday. that affects around 1600 people. hotel staff, parking lot attendants and car rental employees. in response employers have told us they will eliminate some

jobs. some will go to self pay, shuttle drivers will be let go and hotels will contract that work out and a couple of hotels plan on closing the restaurants, killing more than 200 jobs. also future jobs won't be created. the owners of a three seatac has wanted to build a fourth but won't because of the $15 minimum wage. >> uncertainty is bad for business and we are right in that area so we're putting everything on a hold and see what happens and see if the financing can come through. >> big unions like the sciu funded the campaign and says seattle will be next. >> there may be a few jobs lost here and there but the fact is, if we don't fight for this, then the rates at the bottom will continue. >> washington state has the highest minimum wage in the country, set to go up to $9.32

an hour in january. meantime, there's been talk in the other washington to raise the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour. arthel: thank you very much. jon: some new hope for those battling addiction. coming up, we'll tell you about the experimental new treatment that researchers say can help addicts kick their habit. and the u.s. capital dome is getting a face lift. coming up, we'll take you inside the landmark for a look at what is being done. [ male announcer ] marie callender's knows you may not have time to roll out a perfectly flaky crust that's made from scratch. or mix vegetables with all white meat chicken and homemade gravy. but marie callender's does. just sit down and savor. marie callender's. it's time to savor.

we still run into problems. that's why liberty mutual insurance offers accident forgiveness if you qualify, and new car replacement, standard with our auto policies. so call liberty mutual at... today. and if you switch, you could save up to $423. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? >> two terror attacks in two days. we'll hear how the worse may be yet to come only weeks way from the olympics. >> a lot of concern about the olympics. i'll give you an update on a story i told you saturday. 12-year-old girl, her government sponsored insurance policy turns down life saving surgery. we have an exciting update.

>> i'm keeping you healthy for your new year's eve special. green juice, i promise i will tell you if you have spinach in your teeth. vitamins, babe. >> thank you very much. covered under obamacare? >> no. but dr. segal will be with us if you need a z pack. arthel: new research in the fight against substance abuse. doctors now testing a brand new drug. it targets a part of the brain that drives dependence and makes it difficult to give up drugs or alcohol. joe runs the recovery program rebound brooklyn. welcome to you, joe. >> thank you. thanks for having me. arthel: absolutely. i wanted to talk about rebound brooklyn and how it is that you approach addiction there? >> it's a medical problem, first and foremost. a medical doctor is a certified physician so it's not just a behavioral approach.

it's scientific and also is an approach that's centered in the brain. we believe that addiction is a medical illness and it can be treated. arthel: so how is your approach different than the 12 step program? >> it's something we utilize. we do believe in community support and peer support. mutual help groups like 12 step programs are very helpful and they can be helpful to many, many people. however, for many people it's not enough. and so medication is valid. it can certainly help people. it can help people get traction in their recovery, help stabilize them. maybe there will be a time when they don't use medication as part of their recovery but the idea of you're a bad person, just go to a.a. and a church basement and if you fail at that, you did something wrong, it's antiquated, doesn't really work and doesn't help. arthel: it's chemical. >> absolutely. arthel: it's in the brain. >> for sure. absolutely. without question. there's so much messaging from a

systemic point of view. we still try to incarcerate our way out of addiction. we don't incarcerate people with obesity, diabetes or hyper tension so people still really believe that it's system that's just behavioral. arthel: and i know just hearing you say that, comparing it a little bit to diabetes or even obesity, i think there are people there saying, wait a minute. people choose to pick up a drink. that's not true. for many people it's genetic. >> it is genetic for many people. there's certainly an element of choice. it is not solely a choice. people who have hyper tension or diabetes or obesity, they're also making a choice to either further or distance themselves from their disease. if you're a diabetic and make poor choices, it's not your fault you have diabetes but still, you've made that choice and it's the same with addiction. it is. you know, yes, we do make choices and we can choose to stabilize and maintain the recovery and do all the things we need to do to do that but

there's a brain illness and mal dapgs where there's a point that's absolutely not their fault. arthel: we're not talking about their excuses. i would love to talk to you more about the program there. maybe you'll come back. >> absolutely. any time. thank you. jon: get this. u.s. congress could get even noisier next year and not because of all the fighting over the budget or obamacare. construction crews are preparing to start restoring the capitol dome. to bring our symbol of democracy back to its shining glory. peter doocy is live in washington with the latest there. >> it's tough to tell from ground level but exposure to the elements has left the u.s. capitol dome in rough shape. i recently climbed the top of the dome to get a closer look at some of the 1,300 cracks that are becoming a big problem and they're becoming a big problem because water has been leaking into those cracks over the years

and all that water on top of all that cast iron is creating a lot of rust. so in the springtime, the entire capitol dome will be wrapped in saf folding as officials use a technique called lock and stitch to fix the damage. the technique is state of the art. >> actually, we'll drill out the crack and tap each of those drill holes and put in a pin and a series of pins that stitch along the crack and then perpendicular to those pins, we'll put in a series of locks that hold that stitch together. >> and once the work starts, contractors will be racing against the clock because after stripping paint and primer off the dome, this generation of cast iron will flash rust in eight hours. so things have to be done right on the first try. as pore potential impact on

tourists, the famous paintings will be covered up for a few weeks while this protective net is put in place but then the paintings will be uncovered and while someemain obscured up top, the famest ceiling right there, will be visible through the netting and most work is going to be done for this project during nights and weekends. the hope is to have everything new and improved well ahead of the next presidential inauguration. $59.5 million. architect at the capitol says he can't guarantee the project won't go over budget. jon: keeping the capitol looking good. thanks, peter. arthel: not a good day for job security in the nfl as coaches learn their fate on the day after the last regular season game. we'll tell you who got the ax so

far. plus the gym could really get crowded in january with so many people making new year's resolutions to lose weight. up next, a doctor tells us the very best way to slim down in 2014. there's a new form of innovation taking shape.

at a company that's bringing media and technology together. next is every second of nbcuniversal's coverage 0f the 2014 olympic winter games. it's connecting over one million low-income americans to broadband internet at home. it's a place named one america's most veteran friendly employers. next is information and entertainment in ways you never thought possible.

welcome to what's next. comcastnbcuniversal. arthel: new information on one of the most popular new year's resolutions, losing weight. so if you dread getting on the scale after all those holiday treats, we have some great tips on shedding pounds and keeping them off in the new year. joining us is a doctor, a board certified e.r. physician. good to see you. >> good to see you. arthel: you say do not diet.

they don't work. >> that's right. it's a four letter word. you really just have to change your whole lifestyle and you shouldn't aim too high. i mean, really start with little things. i like to tell people, cut out all the white foods. no white rice, white pasta, white bread. go with whole grains to start out because they've shown -- studies have shown that people that eat more whole grains, it's easier to lose wait and something sensible. arthel: and everything in moderation, right? >> exactly. and i find the problem with dieting is if you deprive yourself too much, then you're not going to stick with it. so just take little steps. i even sometimes say pick one day. if there's one day you want to do something, go out, have wine, a nice dinner do. that for yourself and then get right back. don't feel like you slipped up and then blow it and then go crazy because that's what puts the yo-yo weight on. arthel: and the whole portion thing is important. tell people like if you want a

hamburger, have half of a hamburger. >> that's very good. truthfully, a portion of six ounces of meat or a steak is like your palm size. now, think about the steaks when you go to steakhouses that they serve. share it with someone, take it home and i always try to make myself leave a little bit on the plate. it's like a control thing and if you say, okay. i'm not going to have that last bite, it will make you feel better. arthel: i'll share a meal because if it's on my plate, i'm go to eat it. >> the clean plate club has created a problem in america and plate used to be 10 inch dinner size plates and now they're huge plates. if you fill up your plate, that's too much. arthel: it's about portion control and the thing is, you have to eat. people think i'm just going to skip breakfast. that's the worst thing. don't skip meals. >> people talk about smaller meals. if you know you're not going to dinner until 8:00, 9:00, have

something healthy like cottage cheese or yogurt or an apple can fill you up and a little snack like that will kind of fill you up. arthel: that's what i do but over christmas i ate a two pound box of toffee. it's all good. thank you, doctor. that was an exception. nice to see you. happy new year. >> same to you. jon: as most of us prepare for new year's festivities, it is not a fun day for some. yes, this is the day after the last regular season nfl game or firing day as it's known for some head coaches. the casualties thus far, leslie frasier of the minnesota vikings, after finishing the season with five victories, 10 losses and one tie. mike shanahan of the redskins getting his pink slip after a 3-13 slip. also greg schiano of the buccaneers following a 12-4 season and the detroit lions who wrapped up with a record of 7-9.

browns not even waiting until today, firing their coach yesterday with his 4-12 record. also a nice day at the beach as a couple of young surfers pose for the camera unaware of what is lurking in the water right behind them. you see that shadow? we have the shocking story behind this photo coming you mean.

>> 17 people just yesterday in a crowded train station. amy kellogg is live in lopped lond with the timing of the winter games. and al