below. and many people said cuddle up with somebody they love when it is too cold outside. which i think it is best way to stay inside. >> mine is get dressed inside and stay inside. >> happening now starts right now. >> we are starting off with a weather alert. much of the country getting hit with dangerously low temperatures. a bone chilling blast of frigid air. minus 8 is the high in chicago. 14 below in indianapolis. parts of minnesota seeing 30 below. this cold can be deadly and tens of millions of folks are being

urged to be careful. and breaking news and stories you will see here. >> getting back to work and we have a preview of the issues at stake. and deadly fighting and attack in iraq. does it mean a takeover by terrorist? and a private jet crashes and slips on the runway before bursting into flames. one pilot is dead. we will have more on what happened. it is happening on happening now. >> the senate returning from holiday break. the house is skipping tomorrow. >> a little longer break for the house. james madison -- i am john

scott. >> and i am jenna lee. >> they are confirming the next federal reserve chair and you can be sure there is going to be a heated battle over extending the unemployment benefits for a million americans. the proposal is bipartisan it doesn't mean everyone ages. >> this isn't a maverick that is out to spew socialism. this guy is a conservative person and why wants to extend unemployment benefits. i admire him for that.

>> i think it provides disincentive to work after a while and there are studies to show this >> byron work is joining us and now. unemployment benefits are the big argument of the moment. is that because democrats are loathe to talk about obamacare? >> well they will rather talk about anything other than obamacare. they believe they are on the right side of public opinion. i think what you saw the senator say is the emerging position from the republicans who realize the benefit of extending the benefits. so they are not against it but want to pay for it. so there could be an added pay

for provision and they will accept it. >> a lot of people are not sure low it will get paid for. it is coming from pay roll tax and some argue it will hurt the work poor. >> as you look to the left the budget agreement from december you can see there are always ways to pay for things. $28 billion didn't make it into the budget of december, but they are looking for an extension. and if they can not do it on their own, they will find a way. harry reid said emergency spending will not be paid for eventually because everything isn't an emergency. >> there are arguments to be

made against extending unemployment benefits. it sounds heartless to make them sometimes. >> harry reid said if you put it into the hands of unemployed it helps the economy. how does giving a middle class executive a thousand there help the economy by taxing the working poor? one person spends it but another person in need doesn't have it. >> there is only one republican on record in the senate as supporting the extension of unemployment benefits. and that is dean heller. he is from the state of nevada where the unemployment rate is 2 points higher than the rest of

the nation. are other republicans going to jump on board? >> no, i don't think you will see a fill buster today from the republican side. this is just a temporary thing. democrats are going to come back and want a longer extension in a couple months. we are five years in the economic recovery and they are fighting for longer unemployment benefits. this is going to be a fight all through 2014 because democrats believe it could be a winner in the mid-term election. >> does concern over the economy trump anger over health care? >> that is the key question. what you are going to see with the anniversary of the war on poverty is you are to say a push

on raising benefits for people looking for a job. these are not going to pass. they are going to be a platform to try to distract from obamacare. the issues do poll well put this is a year in which a huge transition is taking place with health care and if they are angry over that it is going to be hard to use income inequality at the polls. >> 11 months away from election day. thank you, both. >> growing concerns here in the united states over what appears to be al qaeda resurging.

on the line is hard-fought gains paid for with american blood. greg has more on the developing story. >> our sources on the grund are saying the key western city in iraq is in the hand of al qaeda. plus other towns and vast areas of the sprawling province. it was ten years ago this year in this area we watched as young marines fought deadly door-to-door battles. there is a combination of fractions that brought the terrorist out of the country and now they are back and taking advantage of the absence of

troops and a lot of upset with the government there. today, when being called on the citizens to expel al qaeda, but he has troops ready to make their own move. caught in the middle is civilians. thousands of people are fleeing the area. they are worried about the new fighting there and that creating a refugee problem like we are seeing in syria. secretary of state kerry toured the union but said this is iraq's battle. and today iran offered their support for the terrain friendly

government. >> that is something we will be talking more about. coming up later this afternoon, we will talk with a former cia officer woo has been to iraq about what he thinks about this crisis and why broader tension in the middle east might be playing a role and what our response could be if any. >> there is new information on the 13-year-old california girl on life support after a tonsil surgery. she was moved last night and the family is hoping for a miracle. two doctors have declared she was brain dead. children's hospital was set to pull the plug but the family believes she is alive and responding to commands. we are live in san francisco with the latest. john, jahi mcmath's family

beat the record before the order expired. where she is now and where she is going next is a mystery. this video is showing her being taken away in a private ambulance. she is with her mother who has custody and has been trying to move her into a long-term family facility. new beginnings in new york confirmed she could go there. the website specializes in people who have been declared brain dead. her own father recovered and jahi mcmath can, too. >> as the president of the community center, i see every day people that have come back from comas every day.

>> before she goes anywhere, she is still hooked up to a ventilator and needs to have feeding and breathing tubes. she hasn't had any food for 27 days and that is a sign she is fighting to survive. a team of medical experts, a judge, and county corner have indicated there is no chance that will happen. the health department is investigating why she ended up in this condition following tonsil surgery. >> thank you. >> we are not even a week into 2014. liz chaney made a big announcement and what she had to

say. and iraq's prime minister calling on the people to rise up and spell out al qaeda. some are blaming the iraq government for the attacks, though. we will go in-depth next.

>> fears of the resurgence of al qaeda in iraq follows days of fighting that has resulted in al qaeda taking part of two key cities in iraq. they are in the proverance that stretches from the border of syria to baghdad.

the prime minister of iraq being labeled as part of the crisis. they are saying if he had embraced the sunii movement iraq would have stayed peaceful. but the moment the united states left iraq he began victimizing them. joining me now is the leader of a global security film who has been to the area several times. how do you see it there? >> anybody who has been to iraq or that part of the world knows it is complex. it isn't just al qaeda versus

the military. it is more about the divide. as soon as we decided to pull out, moliki started to distance himself from the relationships. we all remember the iraqi awakening and we worked hard to develop relationships the tribes to take on the fight against al qaeda. >> and they changed the history of the engagement with iraq. >> it did. and now the government saying we urge people to fight out and that is because in part, they realize it is the same. >> let me ask you about that. in the area with we say al qaeda

is taking key parts of the city, were they under iraqi government control or being ran by the tribal chiefs? >> the answer is yes and no. when you talk about a federal government. when we talk about what we did in iraq with nation building and trying to establish a strong federal form of government they don't under that. it is tribal-based society. so this was going to happen. i hate to sound cynical, but once we pulled to troops out this security situation was inevitable. >> when we pulled the troops out he had a huge situation in syria

around the same moments. been roads said even if we had a small set of troops in iraq, they should not be dealing with this. united states troops on the ground wouldn't make the situation better. >> we would keep it camped down, but would it solve the problem? no. just like with afghanistan. but if you are there in the parts of the world it tamps down the violence. >> what do we do now? >> the administration says they are not sending the troops back. there is little week do. >> what happens if it is becomes a sunii state?

>> they maybe what takes place. this isn't going away. the idea that al qaeda is taking over is yes, they are there. but they are also there. the syrian situation is fueling the problem but you can trace it to libya as well. they are also wherever there is a problem. but for all of the time the former regime was a sunii and now the tables reversed and you are getting this violence. we should not be surprised this is happening. >> it isn't just an al qaeda story. >> absolutely not. >> clouds of gas and ash has

people running from a volcano. and a horrible crash at an airport leaves people watching. airport leaves people watching. i was going to the library to do my homework.

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and will keep getting worse as several organs continue to give out after suffering a serious stroke. >> investigators have looking into the cause of the a deadly crash. the crash left one man dead and two others hurt. it went off the runway before flipping over and bursting into flames. will car is live with the latest. what do authorities think happened here? >> john, we know the plane started in mexico yesterday morning. it went through arizona. it was trying to land which it trash crashed in aspen. you can see the lodge is upside down and charred. it killed the pilot of the plane and injured two others.

one in critical and one in serious. all three people were from mexico and all three were pilots. they attempted several approaches into the airport and several people were at the airport saying the plane bursted into flames immediately. they are on their way to investigate what happened and we have expecting an update at the top of the hour. >> what about weather at the time? there is a history of troubled landings there. if the weather sucks it is tough to get into. >> the wind started shifting and they were getting gust up to 30 miles per hour and it was snowing at the time. so you add all of the that together and it makes for a tricky landing. this isn't the first fatal lax

at the airport. in 2001 a crash killing people and in 1991 as well. it is a challenge airport to land a plane in. you have to descend quickly after coming over a mountain range and tossing in the winds and snow it is a difficult landing for the pilots obviously. >> will carr live from los angeles for us. >> taking the driving out of driving. our remote control cars the way of the future? would you feel comfortable in a car you are not driving? and even that might not help the travelers in the midwest. the planes are grounded and the cars are slipping. >> we got on the plane an hour late. started to deice. stopped deicing.

waited. deiced again. head for the runway. turned around and got off the back to the runway. waits and then off the plane.

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is. jon: right now a quick look what is still to come this hour of "happening now." arctic air is sinking its teeth in the u.s. creating travel hazards and health concerns as the temperature drops.

volcano spewing ash farther than scientists expected. people who thought they had found shelter are on the move again. the biggest college football game is on tonight a but as they duke it out should students loss be ones cashes in. a report on paying students to play. jenna: fox weather alert. we're watching a dangerous deep freeze affecting much of the nation today. a blizzard hitting illinois yesterday dumping 15 inches of snow in some areas, stranding travelers including closing schools. you look at some of the latest windchills. unbelievable, right? garrett tenney live in chicago with more on all of this. garrett? >> reporter: jenna, right now in chicago it is negative 14 degrees but with the windchill it feels more like negative 40, negative 42 degrees. that is really the case all across the midwest. up in minnesota their windchill is down into the negative 50s

and 60s. there are not a shortage of places you can be that are warmer than the midwest a few examples, you could be inside your freezer and warmer than any of these cities. northern tip of a last kay, barrow, alaska, the high is negative 3, 10 degrees warmer than we are here in chicago. the national weather service has dubbed chicago for the day as chiberia after siberia there on twitter. it is cold all over. of course, here, this is not your typical foot traffic on a monday. normally on this type of day, getting back after the holidays you will see packed streets, cars all along the road. not a lot of people braving it today. some people are in visiting town. they are getting out. they are going through this. all across the midwest, city officials tell people to stay indoors if possible because the weather is down right dangerous. when it gets down to negative 40, negative 50 degrees, you can have the skin freeze and get

frostbite after five or 10 minutes being exposed outside. this weather causing for no shortage of delays in travel both in the road and in the air. yesterday more than 1200 flights canceled at o'hare. more than 350 so far today as well. roads all across the region as well, many shut down completely. in indianapolis the mayor shut down travel on all roads to anything but emergency personnel only are being asked to travel on there. 80 miles of roadway along, between indianapolis and chicago also shut down just because of all the snow, the wind, that they have had there on the roads. transportation officials in missouri as well, saying that rock salt at these temperatures isn't even effective t brings that melting temperature down to zero degrees but when you're below that it will not do much good. this weather is expected to continue throughout much of today. schools are canceled. businesses are asking people to stay home though. we do have that at least. it will only get colder

throughout today. tomorrow it will warm up a little bit, down to the negative 5-degree area, jenna. >> garrett, you seem totally unof affected by the weather out there. how do you feel out there. >> reporter: it is brutal. dancing anytime i wasn't on camera. anything you can do to stay warm. jenna: we would love the film crew send video in your spare time. get inside. >> reporter: you got it. >> garrett, thank you very much. more on this, jon, because i'm sure garrett is feeling it. jon: he can approach it with the sense of humor. that is a good thing the subzero temperatures garrett was talking about hitting much of the country. the worst we've seen in 20 years. you don't have to be outside for the frigid air to be a health risk. how to stay safe and keep your family and friends safe during this freeze. we have the assistant professor at nyu school of medicine. you can walk outside, if you're not ready for temperatures like this and start suffering frostbite in a matter of

minutes? >> yeah, that's true. there are different stages of frostbite but we worry about that in this type of weather. the reason it matters so much, our bodies, our organs only work within a narrow range of temperatures. when you get the thermometer out close to the 98.6. in this type of weather it is hard for your body to keep your whole body warm. jon: if the ex-extremities cool off, toes, fingers, ears -- >> body is prioritizing trying to keep the lung and heart warm and letting other areas get colder. sometimes you feel pain and itching. we're used to it with ears and nose in normal weather and in this weather you can get plain or blisters. if you have blisters or discoloration of those areas you want to go to the e.r. those are the second stages of profit bite. jon: you mentioned the lungs, the body trying to keep the lungs warm. the lungs are inhaling very cold air.

they will lose heat quickly. >> i usually recommend people to keep the scarf over their face, nose, ears. put earmuffs on. put something over your mouth. even as you exhale some of that perspiration, some of that water vapor it can also freeze and you can get cold that way. when people put chap tick on as well, sometimes those freeze. the important thing keep all of these areas covered as much as possible. even if you drink water you want to have fluids and other things, try to have it stay warm. one other thing we worry about, we're talking about the digits but if your hands, feet, nose, ears, if they get too cold, then other areas of our body can get cold too. we might not be able to keep heart and lungs warm. that is what we call hypothermia. jon: right. if you suffer hypothermia itself you will probably not be aware of it is always my understanding. >> yeah. jon: people around you should know what the symptoms are. can you tell us about that? >> you might slow down and tired and not move as quickly. everything is slowing down

essentially. but the important thing is actually for friend and family to check on people. if you have friend or family living alone or in these kind of fridge get temperatures check on them periodically to make sure they're all right. especially older and more frail they might not realize they get the blissers and discoloration. people with diabetes may not feel the cold. they may not realize how cold their body actually is. jon: in this situation, vehicles slide into power poles and get local power outages, can affect furnaces, heating systems and so forth and it doesn't take long for an apartment or home to lose all of its heat. >> exactly that is true. i tell people keep some emergency supplies and other things around so at least if the power does go out or something else happens you have food, you have water, you have other things until somebody can come to help you out. jon: dr. devi, from new york, i'm sorry, nyu school of

medicine. >> thank you. jon: doctor, thank you. jenna. jenna: authorities extending the danger zone after a series of eruptions from a massive volcano, sends thousands, tens of thousands of people on the run. the biggest college football game of the year is tonight. florida state takes on auburn for the national championship. with schools and raking in the cash, there are growing questions whether student athletes should be paid. do you need help? [ doorbell rings ] let's open it up. it's a swiffer dusters.weeper. it can extend so i don't have to get on the step stool. i don't know how it stays on there. it's like a dirt magnet -- just like my kids. [ afi ] this is a danger zone. that is crazy. ah-ha-ha! [ zach ] yeah. no, this definitely beats hanging out on a step ladder. what's up, baby?

jon: new next hour, the man who admitted to slapping a crying toddler and calling him a racial slur heads to court. the charges he faces now. plus a guy missing since new year's day is found. the amazing story of how his family tracked him down. and as the nsa scandal keeps heating up the airwaves the debate continues over the fate of nas leaker edward snowden. should lawmakers be sounding off in public about what should happen to him?

our media analysts weigh in. jenna: tonight florida state and auburn play for the bcs national championship. it is the became that matters -- game that matters. it comes at a tense time for the world of college sports. major schools are making millions of dollars a year from tv and tickets and merchandise sales. they're facing questions whether and how to compensate the student athletes that make it all happen. william la jeunesse is live in los angeles with more on this. >> reporter: jenna, attitudes are changing for two reasons? number one, college players have rights to their image success according to a court case and secondly fairness. should universities, conferences, and coaches get all the revenues or share it with the players who make it possible? this year's bowl season payed out more than $200 million. annual tv rights for major college football, 20 million per school per year. not to mention ticket sales, marketing and almost 5 billion

in t-shirts and jerseys. >> this is run like the nfl and the nba. every inch of it is sold and every inch of these athletes are sold and the only ones that don't get to participate in it as a business are the athletes. >> reporter: many say it is time to end the hypocrisy. where colleges claim to protects student athletes from commercialism while making millions off their entertainment. >> everybody gets a part, a piece of this. the coaches do. the universities do. the shoe companies do. television does. everybody who is participating in this is benefiting, everybody except for those who are on the field. >> reporter: the ncaa argues that colleges pay athletes through scholarships and salaries were ruin the college brand. yet the ncaa has no problem selling their success. >> the kids that come through the ncaa, the system, deserve better. >> reporter: once the face of college basketball, ed o'bannon won a championship at icla only

to learn that the ncaa sold his image to a videogame company without his permission. expertses say his lawsuit will likely ends that controversial question. >> should student athletes be paid? to me that is not the right framing. the issues is should they be restricted and why? >> reporter: coaches urge players to practice full time and avoid class that is could hurt their eligibility. many leave college unprepared. >> most of the top digs one athletes never have a pro career and regrettably, very large numbers them never come away with a college degree either. >> reporter: so now there is a college players association, a student athletes a bill of rights in congress. there is court case taking those together. experts say only a matter of time before players get paid. back to you. jenna: a lot of questions about the details and in all of it as you point out. william, thank you very much. jon: right now black sighs over

the islands of indonesia. a volcano is he interrupting again and again this weekend. the lava is beginning to flow and hot gas billowing over towns below. patti ann browne has the latest on that. >> that's right, jon. you can see dramatic pictures. more than 20,000 people in two indonesian villages have been forced to evacuate as hot clouds of volcanic ash come dangerously close. officials are preparing to widen that evacuation zone if necessary. mount sinabon was dormant 400 years. a few months ago it erupted violently, shaking nearby times. this weekend is erupted 77 times. there are 60 lava flows running down the 1 1/2 mile high volcano and dark, hot gas is billowing out. the volcano agency put the volcano on the highest alert status. the public is asked not to come within five kilometers of the

crater. the government extending the emergency response period to mid-january in order to take care of people affected by the volcano. indonesia has nearly 130 active volcanoes, that is more than any other country. it sits in the so-called pacific ring of fire. jon? jon: patti ann browne, from the breaking news desk. thank you. jenna: newest high-def televisions to a car that drives itself we're live inside the 24 year's consumer electronics show. with a sneak-peek. it will play to everyone's inner geek. jon, we all have one. that is what we'll explore next. we're on panda watch. prepare to meet the latest ball of fur ready to melt your heart. 24/7. i'm sorry, i'm just really reluctant to try new things. really? what's wrong with trying new things? look! mommy's new vacuum! (cat screech) you feel that in your muscles? i do... drink water.

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jenna: well we still can't take a jetpack to the office but the future is now.

everything from new technology that could revolutionize the way you watch television to driverless cars that could take you anywhere you want to go. it is all on display at the world biggest tech companies and small startups converge on sin city showing off their newest wares. the 2014 consumer electronics show that kicks off tomorrow. we're here with glen. he will preview what we might see. glen is the electronics editor for consumers reports. he is the one to ask about this. glen, what is the most anticipated item at ces this year? >> well, i think what we're going to see is a variety of items in the tv space that are going to be interesting, especially what they call ultrahd or uhdtvs. this is in one way to think about it, everyone has gotten an hd set, this is the next generation to out mode them all. next generation hd is a real bump up in resolution.

it looks almost like a 35-millimeter photograph on your tv. some of these sets were launched last year at stratosphere i cannily high press es at $40,000. you will see that come down and a lot more sets. the interesting thing -- jenna: we have a little bit of a delay, and i apologize, just so viewers can understand what we're showing them, we're showing images of these television screens. they're curved? does that make them different? why does a curved television give us better image than flat screens a lot of us have? >> well, it may or may not give you a better image but will sure look different in the store. curved screens, not all uhdtvs will be curved. a lot of manufacturers are coming out with the curved screens to differentiate themselves. i think, if you ask the manufacturers about it, they say it make as imax style experience inside of your home. in our labs we taken a look at some early ones and we think if

you're not sitting dead center they can get a little strange and distorted. remains to be seen how well curved screens go. jenna: someone that works on television, you want people to see clearly but not that clearly all the time as we adjusted some of our makeup because of that. glen, let me ask you a little bit about the driverless cars. we've seen these before. we've done several stories on them. will we see something similar to the televisions we might see them become more mainstream in the technology and more available to the little guys out there? >> most definitely so. actually, the big change that is coming in the next year, this year and the next two or three years is that, driverless cars will change from the, the sort of experimental technology, the way that you see it as in the google driverless cars going around on roads and essentially they're performing a grand experiment there. what is happening now is real cars, consumer cars, that you can buy will start having this

technology built into them. let's get things straight. it is not a driverless car the way people think about it, that you hop in the back seat. what it will be sort of like crews control on steroids where you can take your hands off the wheel and the cars sees the road and steers for you for extended periods of time. jenna: one of my producers wondered if she could sit back, have a cup of coffee and have a nap during a long car trip? will it enable us? sound a little dangerous, i don't know. >> well, what is interesting about it that consumers and laws are not quite ready for it yet but the technology is coming anyway. one of the major concerns people have, people will fall asleep. if you're not really paying attention to the road, if something goes haywire and tough take over in a hurry, people just may not be paying enough attention to know that. so that, those are all real concerns and they will have to shake out but the products are coming and there is really no

stopping it at this point. jenna: just on cue, my coanchor yawned, i want to tell you that, glen. i think this segment is fascinating so you know. great that you could join us early. i know you can't talk about too many specifics because they're embargoed until tomorrow and great to have you ahead of time. thank you for those tidbits. >> thanks for having me. jon: i like to drive my own car, thank you. jenna: i like driving as well. i mean would you feel comfortable? jon: no. jenna: i don't think so. or someone else doing it. jon: i have seen technology fail too many times. a baby panda makes its big debut. the six-month-old cub unveiled today at the taipei zoo in taiwan. she spent her first few months in an incubator after injuring her leg, poor thing. she currently sleeps about 20 hours a day, wouldn't that be nice. jenna: sound good. could drive one of the driverless cars, right? >> closely protected by her overbearing mother, lively crowds of about 40 people per minute push past her enclosure

to get a glimpse of the newest edition to the. >> president obama is back in washington. on his agenda, a new push to combat income inequality. is it simply to draw attention away from obamacare? that's coming up.

jenna: jenna: fox news alert, a new legal action over obamacare and the individual mandate. i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. welcome to the second hour of "happening now." we are live on capitol hill. wisconsin senator ron johnson is about to make good on his threat to sue the obama administration over the federal funds it gives lawmakers and their staffs to subsidize their health care coverage. wisconsin republican going after the office of personnel management claiming its policy amounts to special treatment and breaks the law. because, he says, it's not authorized in the text of the affordable care act. joining us now, bret baier, the anchor of "special report."

this is yet another challenge to the obamacare law. any chance this will actually be successful? >> well, jon, it's possible. i mean, senator johnson has a point in the letter of the law. it's explicitly laid out here that congress is not supposed to get the exact benefits that it's getting according to how the law is written. essentially, they're getting additional benefits, provisions to help pay for the staff and congress members much like they would get if they were making $45,000 or less. members of congress are paid $175,000 a year. they would not qualify under the stipulations in obamacare, and yet they're getting these benefits. senator johnson says that's not fair and that congress should be treated the same way as people in the tickets that they -- districts that they represent under the law. jon and let's take a look back at how all of this came about

when the obamacare train or maybe senator baucus would call it a train wreck was rolling and gathering steam on capitol hill, republicans inserted the requirement that if they're going to foist this on the whole country, then members of congress would have to live under the same terms, right? so then, so then they pass the thing into law, a number of staff members on capitol hill were threatening to leave because they said they couldn't afford it, and lo and behold, the office of personnel management comes out earlier -- well, it was last year now -- comes out last year and says, guess what, you guys are eligible for subsidies that the rest of america does not get. that's really what has senator johnson and so many other people steamed. >> i mean, that's the heart of the matter, is that these subsidies are not spelled out in the law itself. and you saw all these efforts by republicans to, essentially, take this away, to take these waivers and subsidies away from

congress. that failed. and it was a big political hot potato for democrats. now it is a legal hot potato in that there will be this suit filed by senator johnson in the eastern district, the u.s. district court of the eastern district of wisconsin, and it could, you know, go forward. there is, by the letter of the law, a case to be made here. we should point out, jon, that there are dozens of cases about different aspects of obamacare. we're hearing about the contraception mandate now with the little sisters of the poor. there are many different aspects of this that are being challenged in courts all around the country. and they could be making their way through the court system back up to the supreme court and challenged again in the supreme court. and remember, chief justice john roberts in his argument said that this is a tax, not a mandate. and when you start dealing with a lot of these cases, they deal with mandates.

jon: and the numbers that you trotted out earlier, i think, are so crucial for people to understand here. a lot of people thought, it's called the affordable care act because the president and those who devised it thought those on the lower end of the income scale, you know, should be able to afford health insurance. so if you make less than $45,000, you get subsidies. members of congress make $175,000, and they're getting subsidies. >> right. and that's the crux of senator johnson's case and part of the reason that he says these subsidies are out of place for members of congress. of you know, staff, you know, some of them fit under that requirement as far as the money goes, but be members of congress making $175,000 definitely do not. and the question is whether there can be some legal action. it may take a while. it would take some court to get with it all the way up to the

supreme court, but it is a case that's moving forward. and politically, republicans believe that fighting this on all fronts is still their ticket in november of 2014. jon: yeah. especially as the president and democrats seem to want to turn to other subjects to talk about. bret baier, thank you very much, and a big congratulations to you on this, five years after you took over the chair at "special report." >> thank you. as you know, there's a lot of people that make this place work. jon: congratulations to you, that's a nice feather in your cap. tonight, 6 p.m. eastern time. jenna: speaking of other issues that are taking center stage in washington, a major debate heating up on long-term unemployment benefits as lawmakers themselves get back to work today. the big question, whether to extend benefits for millions of americans who have been out of work for more than six months. our chief congressional correspondent, mike emanuel, is live on capitol hill where the senate has returned. mike, where are the senate republicans on this issue about

extending unemployment benefits? >> reporter: well, jenna, good afternoon. five republicans are needed to join with senate democrats to reach the critical 60-vote threshold in tonight's procedural vote. nevada senator dean heller is onboard with the measure. of course, unemployment in nevada, it remains above the national average. tennessee senator lamar alexander says he's opposed to this measure because the senate should take up and vote a number of good ideas to help put people back to work. and alexander's the cosponsor of a job training measure which has already passed the house. another key republican says if you want to extend unemployment insurance, find a way to pay for it. >> with regard to unemployment insurance, aye always said that finish i've always said that i'm not opposed to unemployment insurance, i am opposed to having it without paying for it. i think it's wrong to borrow money for china, but i'm not against having unemployment insurance. >> reporter: certainly, many republicans throughout the house of representatives and fellow

senators are also onboard with the idea of, okay, let's extend unemployment benefits, but it is critical with the debt growing to find a way to pay for it. jenna? jenna: so what is the argument or the pitch, if you will, from democrats, mike, to try to get some republicans and get this across the finish line? >> reporter: senate majority leader harry reid calls it emergency spending, and he says you don't need to pay for something that is an emergency. another top democrat went after rand paul for saying the longer unfortunately unemployment benefits, it provides a disincentive to work. >> i think it's a little insulting, a bit insulting to american workers when rand paul says that unemployment insurance is a disservice. they want to work. they don't want unemployment benefits. they're just hanging)ty on with unemployment benefits. >> reporter: and so democrats are looking for four other republicans to join with dean heller to get to the 60-vote threshold tonight. if they don't get there, you better believe there'll be

pressure to find a way to pay for it and bring more republicans along. jenna? jenna: an interesting story to watch with, mike. thank you. >> thank you. jon: well, edward snowden's bombshell revelations have sparked a heated debate oh his future. should he get clemency for exposing the nsa's surveillance overstep, or is he a traitor who deserves jail time for leaking data and jeopardizing future security? catherine herridge takes a look at those issues live from washington. >> reporter: thank you, jon. in a letter to the editor of the new york times over the weekend, the senior lawyer for the intelligence community castigated the paper for repeating claims that the director of national intelligence, james clapper, lied to congress in this exchange: >> does the nsa collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of americans? >> no, sir. >> it does not? >> not wittingly. there are cases where they could

inadvertently, perhaps, collect -- >> reporter: general counsel writes, quote: >> r eporter: but the letter to the editor of "the new york times" fails to acknowledge key points of the timeline, that senator wyden's office gave clapper the chance to correct the record right after the hearing in march, and clapper refused, then only admitted his misleading comments after the snowden leaks in june. on the sunday talk shows, republican senator rand paul, who's launching a class action lawsuit as a private citizen against the nsa over the surveillance programs, says leaker edward snowden and clapper should both be punished for their actions. >> so i think personally he probably would come home for some penalty of a few years in prison which would be probably not unlike what james clapper probably deserves for lying to

congress and that maybe if they served in a prison cell together, we'd become further enlightened as a country over what we should and shouldn't do. >> reporter: lawyers representing snowden say there is a first amendment guarantee to expose government lawlessness whether or not the illegality is classified, but so far the administration has taken a dim view of clemency with officials in the white house and justice department maintaining that snowden is guilty of violating the espionage act no matter how noble his reasons may have been, jon. jon: what an issue. catherine herridge in washington. we're going to be talking more about this when our media analysts join us to discuss some of the newest details from top republican member of congress peter king, he is now accusing senator rand paul of lying and misleading americans on the nsa program. so you've got republican on republican, pretty interesting debate. jenna: we'll look forward to that. vice president joe biden just unveiled some new gun control

proposals. will that push the issue back onto the front burner? we'll talk a little bit about that and also introto deuce you to a brand new study that tells us about how effective gun laws really are. also more drama in antarctica even after the passengers onboard that stuck ship are rescued, why new help is on the way. plus, millions of americans lost in the deep freeze with temps plunging to dangerously-low temperatures across the country stranding more people at already backed-up airports. >> flying with delta, they change your flight to come up to detroit, and now because of the weather, your flight is canceled. gotta love it. gotta love it. [laughter] [ dennis ] it's always the same dilemma --

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and our giant idaho potato truck is still missing. so my dog and i we're going to go find it. it's out there somewhere spreading the good word about idaho potatoes and raising money for meals on wheels. but we'd really like our truck back, so if you see it, let us know, would you? thanks. what? jenna: well, the chinese ice breaker that got trapped in those antarctic ice floes is making some headway coming to the rescue of the russian research vessel which had

originally gotten caught in the ice. now a u.s. coast guard ice breaker is on the move from australia to help out. it's expected to arrive this weekend. latest word is it looks like those ice floes are starting to melt, but, wow, it's really caused quite a situation. jon: a lot of rescues, yes, indeed. a dangerous deep freeze is gripping much of the u.s. right now in the midwest, temperatures dipping way below zero. add in the wind chill factor, and we're talking about 70 below in some spots because of a so-called polar vortex almost like sort of an arctic hurricane with high, frigid winds building up around a calm center. in chicago they may want to call the windy city the icy city, it is really cold. >> real slippery, real icy, people falling. we almost fell. just trying to get home. >> i've been here for almost an our. it's a sheet of ice. cars are just spinning out. jon: meteorologist janice dean is in the weather center with more for us.

>> reporter: and look at you with the fancy meteorology terms, the polar vortex, yes, directly coming from the north pole, as far south as the deep south. and take a look at these wind chills, what it feels like, really dangerous, -41 in chicago right now, incredible. and it's going to push as far south really as the gulf coast and even florida tonight. look at new york city, 44. but it is coming. we're going to drop 30 degrees within the next 12 hours or 24 hours, if you can belief it. so as we go through the evening and into tomorrow, still feeling like -40 in green bay, -31 in chicago, -33 in detroit, and watch the northeast as this polar vortex comes through. it's going to feel like -11 in albany, -24 in pittsburgh, -5 in phi. a lot of schools are closing in the next couple of days, and we talked about the historic cold feeling like -30--60, but seeing

all of these wind chill alerts is incredible, again, as far south as north of miami. unbelievable. we're going to be telling our grand kids about this. your lows tonight, -20 in minneapolis, -14 in chicago, 10 in pell mys, 2 in kansas city, even new orleans, 22 is what it's going to feel like, 7 in atlanta, even tampa, 33 around the freezing mark. this is the arctic front we're talking about, it's pushing all of this moisture eastward, and, jon scott and jenna, this is the thing i worry about, any of this rain -- because it's so warm along the east coast -- is going to freeze up overnight and tomorrow, it's going to be like a skating rink in a lot of these areas. so that's the danger as well. we'll continue to keep you posted on the polar vortex! jon: people just need to stay inside, right, j.d.? >> reporter: you got it. if you can, obviously. jon: if you can. janis teen, thank you. jenna: i was one of those people

yesterday -- jon: you stayed inside? jenna: no, i stepped onto the street and banana peel right down in the middle of the street. so if you've done it, you're not alone. i did it yesterday. it's scary out there. it's very slick. we've got the latest in the dramatic case of road rage that has sparked a national manhunt. plus, the supreme court steps into the same-sex marriage debate in utah, what the justices just ordered, coming up. [ bottle ] okay, listen up! i'm here to get the lady of the house back on her feet. [ all gasp ] oj, veggies you're cool. mayo? corn dogs? you are so outta here! aah! 'cause i'm re-workin' the menu, keeping her healthy and you on your toes. [ female announcer ] the complete balanced nutrition of great-tasting ensure. 24 vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and 9 grams of protein. i see you, cupcake! uh-oh! [ bottle ] the number one doctor recommended brand. ensure®. nutrition in charge™.

jon: a deadly road rage case now sparking a manhunt that's gone nationwide. patti ann brown is live at the breaking news desk. >> reporter: it was early saturday morning when the apparent road rage incident in pennsylvania led to a deadly shooting, and the gunman is still on the loose. the victim, 28-year-old timothy

davisson, was driving home to maine after visiting family in florida over the holidays. he called 911 while driving on interstate 81 saying someone was shooting at him, pennsylvania state police believe the driver of a pickup truck began a dispute with davisson. >> the victim's vehicle, causing it to spin out of control and become disabled in the median. the suspect then turned around, he got out of his vehicle, he approached the victim's vehicle, fired a couple rounds into the vehicle, striking and killing the other driver. >> reporter: no arrests have been made. state police have asked the fbi to assist. thai looking for -- they're looking for a dark-colored pickup truck with damage to the truck driver's side, also looking at bullet fragments hoping to identify the gun's owner. this shooting may be connected to another shooting friday in pennsylvania, just 30 miles there where davisson was killed, jon. jon: stay on it for us, patti ann brown at the breaking news

desk. jenna: vice president biden proposed some new gun control laws many hopes of reducing violent crime and in doing so brought back the very emotional topic of gun control and questions as to how the obama administration and how congress will proceed in the new year on this topic. in the mean meantime, a new study examines the effects of certain gun laws. the author looked at concealed-carry laws and the assault weapons ban between the years of 1980 and 2009, and what he found is twofold; that states with more ricket i conceal-carry laws had higher murder rates during that time, and during the federal assault weapons ban with, gun murder rates were higher than when there was no law. the study was published in applied economics letters and joining me now is the man who did this research. his name is mark geist, professor of economics at quinnipiac university. professor, it's great to have you on the program. i'm so curious as someone who's interested in economics why you chose this topic, what brought

you to it. >> well, actually, i've done some prior research in the area of gun control, but for this particular study, it kind of intrigued me after the wake of actually the sandy hook shootings. i was really curious about whether or not assault weapons bans would actually have an effect on the murder rate, because as you know, after sandy hook there was a flurry of activity to try to pass some stricter gun controls. and it in the course of my reseh i decided to look at the assault weapons bans both at the state and federal levels, but also conceal-carry laws as well. jenna: i'd love to get your results, but before i do, as you point out, this is a very emotional issue. gun control certainly is. and as soon as anyone wades into this arena, critics come out talking about the research and and suggesting that you might have a political agenda. do you have any be political agenda that we should consider here? >> oh, no. i'm just a college professor.

i'm actually a democrat, to be honest with you. so i look at this as a public policy question. i see gun control as a public policy aimed at trying to reduce gun violence, and i just wanted to see if certain measures that were being considered or enacted had any actual effect on violence or murder in this case. jenna: there was a couple things about your study that make it different. one is the length of of time, that you looked at data from 1980 to 2009, but also how you looked at conceal-carry laws. as i mentioned, the study is twofold. what did you find when it comes to looking at states and murder rates specifically and conceal-carry laws? >> well, i looked at the period 980-2009 -- 1980-2009, and i used a regression model, and i controlled for a lot of

variables, socioeconomic variables, state-level variables, so on and so forth. and essentially, what i found was those states that had more restrictive conceal-carry laws, ie, those states that restricted or prohibited the carrying of concealed handguns or what we called may-issue states, states that could issue permits at will, if you will, essentially had higher murder rates, about 10% higher murder rates tan those states that have less restrictive laws, no restrictions whatsoever, no permits required for conceal-carry, or they were shall-issue states in the sense that if somebody met the requirements for a permit to carry a concealed weapon, the issuing authority had to issue them the permit to carry the concealed weapon. jenna: and as far as the federal law when we look at the assault weapons ban that took place for a period of ten years, what did you find on that part of your research? >> for that ten-year period, i

found that murder rates were actually higher. however, i'd like to add that the federal assault weapons ban was never tha of a law because of the grandfathering of many guns that were already in existence at the time. and also a lot of gun manufacturers had to simply modify these designs in 1994 so they would then be valid under the federal assault weapons bans. and i actually found state bans prior to 2004 had no significant effect whatsoever on murder rates. jenna: so and, again, when we talk about murder rates, sometimes in these studies when we look at gun control and the effect on violence, it's not just looking at gun murder rates, it may be looking at violence in general. you focused specifically on gun murder rates, and what was -- >> yes. jenna: -- the reason for that? did you also find anything else regarding crime, or did you just

focus on the murder rates at the hands of a gun? >> i strictly focused on gun-related murder rates because, obviously, that would be the crime rate most affected by any form of gun control. i know some other studies looked at murder rates in general which, of course, included murders committed by other weapons or other means, or sometimes they focused@ on violent crime which is an extremely broad category including things like rape, robbery, so on and so forth. and i decided strictly to focus on murder rates. jenna: if i could, professor, one of the things you wrote in your piece, you mentioned in the conclusion of your results you also say there may, however, be with other explanations for these results. i'd like as we finish up here for you to tell us about what other explanations there might be, and since we started with public policy, what do you think your data tells us about what direction we should go when it comes to public policy and gun control? >> well, concerning the

conditional conclusion, if you will, i draw at the end of my paper, there could be other factors that affect, or there are factors that affect gun-related murder rates that are not quantify bl, that you really can't include in a study of my kind. it could be possible that more violence stays actually in a more restrictive concealed weapons laws. there are a wide variety of factors that affect murder rates. and i guess my view is, is that any conclusion in my paper that we need more research in this area. it's pretty much split. to my knowledge, about three papers on this topic say conceal-carry laws actually work, reduce murder rates or have no effect, and there are about four or five including mine that say, no, concealed -- more restrictive conceal-carry

laws result in higher murder rates. so i think we definitely need more research in this area, but from a matter of public policy, i think concealed-carry laws have to be looked at again to see about their effectiveness in reducing murder rates. jenna: professor geist, it's a very interesting study, and we look forward to more research on this topic. as you mentioned, it's an emotional topic, so one would think there would be a plethora of research, and as you point out, it's limited in some ways. professor, it was great to have you on the program, look forward to having you back. thank you. >> thank you. jon: a young mangos missing, his family has no idea what happened to him. then the incredible story of how this newspaper photo brought him from homelessness back to his apartments. that's coming up. and the issue of income inequality, is it just part of a second-term reset for the obama administration? ed henry has details coming up. ed? >> reporter: jon, officials here say this is all about standing up for the middle

class, but republicans charge it's really about class warfare and reframing the 2014 midterms. we'll have full details, coming up. clay. mom? come in here. come in where? welcome to my mom cave. wow. sit down. you need some campbell's chunky soup before today's big game, new chunky cheeseburger. mmm. i love cheeseburgers. i know you do. when did you get this place? when i negotiated your new contract, it was part of the deal. cool. [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. it fills you up right.

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we'll finish up here. ♪ ♪ jenna: new year, new focus for the obama administration making income inequality the focal point of its agenda so far. now, could that be a calculated effort ahead of this year's midterms to take attention away from the obamacare rollout? it's the question we're asking today. ed henry, our chief white house correspondent, is live on the north lawn with more on this. so, ed, how challenging will it be be for the white house to change the agenda? where we left off last year was very much in health care.

>> reporter: well, that's right, jenna. the president's playing a lot of defense on health care, and i can tell you that democrat chuck schumer is making no bones about the fact that they're trying to turn the page there the botched health care rollout. he said yesterday the first five years -- not just last year, but the first five years -- was dominated by health care and the budget deficit, and he says that's all going to change now in 2014. take a listen. >> this year dealing with declining middle class incomes and not enough job growth will be the number one issue. and if on the first day of the new session the republican party says they won't even support unemployment benefits extension, the original round was started by george bush when unemployment was 5.6%. they're going to show themselves so far out of the mainstream, it's going to hurt them in the election. >> reporter: so you see democrat chuck schumer right there bluntly suggesting if republicans don't go along with democrats on some of these issues like extending unemployment benefits, hiking

the minimum wage -- we hear the president will be talking a lot about that this month -- they're going to make that the key issue in 2014. jenna: the obama administration would like to do, but what about the rest of the democrats? is there any sort of risk for them going along with that? >> reporter: well, certainly republican strategists insist that in the short term the president and the democratic party standing up to help people in the short term with some of these benefits, but he says it could also blow up on them if it turns out to be rhetoric about class warfare. take a listen. >> in the short run, they get some advantage from talking about the minimum wage and the extension of unemployment benefits, but the more this becomes a question of taking from those that have to those that don't have, the more that they engage the american people in a very negative way for the administration. >> reporter: now, another challenge for the president you'll remember in the 2008, 2012 campaigns he talked a lot about how he inherited an economic mess. that was the big reason why there was this big gap between rich and poor in the nation.

he's now, obviously, had five years in office, so he's going to have to answer for his own policies as well, jenna. jenna: ed, thank you. jon: "happening now," the supreme court stepping into the same-sex marriage debate in utah, issuing a brief order blocking any new same-sex unions in that state at least while a federal appeals court more fully considers the issue. our chief washington correspondent james rosen has the latest details from washington. >> reporter: jon, good afternoon. close to 1,000 gay and lesbian couples have exchanged vows since december 20 when a federal judge ruled the state' ban on same-sex marriages was up constitutional. today's order puts a halt toal that although in reality some judges in selected counties in utah were still not granting marriage licenses because they knew the state of utah was appealing the federal judge's ruling and/or they simply opposed the practice on principle. now gay rights activists and the state of utah will argue the matter before an appealing court

before the tenth circuit, and that appellate court, one rung below the supreme court, will rule on whether the district judge's opinion that permitted marriages in the beehive state can be allowed to stand. it was supreme court justice sonia sotomayor who issued the stay in this case, that's because she is the justice assigned to handle merge appeals from utah and the other five states in the tenth circuit. now, in about a half hour's time from now, we are hear directly from the utah attorney general in a news conference at the state capital in salt lake city where the attorney general is supposed to detail his plans to continue the fight. the attorney general in the state of utah was only sworn into his post a week ago. jon? jon: james rosen, thank you. jenna: well, the fate of nsa leaker edward snowden, why the case is sparking friendly fire inside the gop and how the media is covering it all. we're going to go in depth, next.

>>'s this deep freeze everybody's talking about? >> down right balmy to me. >> we'll tell you where it is. >> how was your new year? >> london with the kids. >> oh, hoity toity. i was in times square. we've got so much to talk about, but -- >> we're out of time. >> we're out of time. >> you'll have to tune in. >> see you in couple minutes. bye-bye. ve symptoms. [ sneeze ] [ male announcer ] truth is not all flu products treat l your symptoms. what? [ ma announcer ] nope, they don't have an antihistamine. really? [ ma announcer ] reay. [ dog whine ] but alka-seltzer plus severe cold and flu speeds relief to these eight symptoms. [ breath of relief ] thanks. [ male announcer ] you're welcome. ready? go. get it [ male announcer ] can't find theflu, try alka-seltzer plus for fast liquid cold and flu relief.

jenna: a quick fox news alert out in this houston, texas, where we're watching an apartment fire that has broken out in the area of southwest houston. apparently, winds are making it difficult for firefighters. no word on how this fire got started, how many apartments it is affecting or whether or not there's any injury, but obviously a sizable fire as helicopter pulls out a little bit, and you can see the firefighters hard at work. we'll try to work the phones and get more information, but right now a tough apartment fire in the houston area today. jon: hope everyone's okay.

the fate of nsa leaker edward snowden is playing out now in the media, and it's a very polarizing issue pitting high profile republicans against one another. tea party favorite senator rand paul advocates a light prison sentence for snowden, even taking a swing at the director of national intelligence, james clapper, for telling congress the usa does not wittingly collect bulk information on americans. this comes as his fellow republican, congressman peter king, accuses paul of spreading lies about the nsa. take a listen. >> i think personally he probably would come home for some penalty of a few years in prison which would be probably not unlike what james clapper probably deserves for lying to congress and that maybe if they served in a prison cell together, we'd become further enlight ped as a country over what we should and shouldn't do. >> rand paul does not know what he's talking about. he's spreading fear. to me, he's totally uninformed or part of that hate america crowd that i thought left us in

the 1960s. jon: joining us now, jim pinkerton ask alan colmes -- and alan colmes, the author of "thank the liberals for saving america," both of them are fox news contributors. the new york times and "the guardian" newspaper, jim, have both made the snowden case something of a cause celebre, they're both saying this guy is a hero and ought to be treated as such. why is this becoming such a media story? is it in part because of the republican-on-republican sniping that's taking place? >> well, this story has everything, that's for sure, in terms of our own fears about the government and our own fears about surveillance and the continuing perplexity about what to do about terrorism. i think sort of the mega data point be here is that according to the gallup poll, 72 of americans don't trust the -- 72% of americans don't trust the federal government. that puts the federal government on top of iran or china or al-qaeda or whoever. we can argue about whether

they're correct or not, but that's undeniable, where the american people are. and i think rand paul represents some truly heart-felt feelings that can't be waved away just by insults. jon: so, alan, what do you think? do you think -- well, you tell me what you think. >> oh, thank you. [laughter] well, for one thing, i agree with jim that you can't just wave this away by insulting rand that rand paul and peter king have both with made noises about seeking the republican nomination for president 2016, i think that's really what this sniping is about mostly from peter king's stand point. you know, he shouldn't be a senator, he said. i think rand paul, i'm with rand paul on snowden, but i would go even further and say snowden, i'm not sure he deserves time in prison. he deserves a trial first before we determine he should have prison time. i think east more a hero than a traitor. jon: there are a lot of questions, jim, as you have pointed out quite frequently, about what the federal

government is doing with information that it collects on americans, notably the irs. >> right, right. the irs and all their spying which has never really gotten to the bottom of, and it's the same people telling us the irs is fine and the nsa is fine, then obviously we shouldn't be suspicious. look, i don't think there's any doubt that clapper lied. i'm not sure he should go to jail, but i really question, though, the way that we're going to go forward on this, and i certainly think as long as clapper is in his job, it's impossible for any normal american to feel confident the government's telling the truth about this. if peter king's right that the nsa surveillance saved the deaths, prevented the deaths of hundreds of people riding the subway in new york, that's a big deal. he should have to prove that argument or at least prove it to the satisfaction of a fair-minded blue trip commission or something. but, i mean, these issues, again, the media are celebrating this because it's the hot language, but the underlying issues are really serious.

>> i'd be curious to know whats the rev haitian of -- revelation of what edward snowden said. no evidence of that. it's enlightening for the american public to know exactly how we're being spied upon by our government. jon: interesting, jim, that, you know, typically republicans don't like big government programs, they also like, you know, safety, they like programs that keep the nation safe from attack, obviously. so you've got those two things sort of butting heads in this story, and the media coverage seems to reflect that. >> right, the confusion. and don't forget, the obama administration is a pretty fierce champion of doing exactly what heir doing and so are -- they're doing and so are democrats in the congress like senator feinstein. mike rogers of michigan's another one. he's not using the language king is, but he's certainly in favor of the program as is. you've got the left, you knowing the aclu and the right, rand

paul, and the middle in a different position and meanwhile, the american people, i think, are just sort of scratching their heads, assuming the worst with based on the irs, the justice d. investigation of fox news and, of course, the nsa. jon: and, alan, you point out you'd like to know whether any lives have been lost and what kinds of intelligence have been compromised, but you could also ask who has been harmed by the collection of this data. >> i'd like to know the answer of that. i've seen no evidence. who was harmed by collection of the data and by what edward snowden had to reveal? if we're going to put snowden on the witness stand, what did he do that caused harm specifically, where and how? >> i can answer that, the revelations will force other countries to change their methods, thai going to make themselves -- >> any terrorist who didn't know they were being spied upon or potential terrorist where their cell phone was being listened to isn't worth being called a terrorist. these people must have known --

>> alan, look at the 9/11 track record. all these terrorists left all sorts of clues and trails that the goth was too stupid to find, and a smarter government would have caught them. >> edward snowden said our telephone conversations, our e-mail, we wouldn't know that if it weren't for edward snowden. jon: you guys always wait until the e end of the segment to get fired up. thank you. jenna: a man vanishes into thin air. bitter cold p temperatures actually helped in the search for him. we'll tell you how next. huh, fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. yeah. everybody knows that. did you know there is an oldest trick in the book? what? trick number one. look-est over there. ha ha. made-est thou look. so end-eth the trick.

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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. jenna: well, one photograph on a story about the freezing weather now leading to a remarkable reunion. nicholas simmons vanished from his parents' home in upstate new

york last week. his family launched a desperate search with absolutely no luck until this. their son's picture turned up in a major newspaper and made the way for a happy ending. laura ingle is live from our new york city newsroom with more on this. >> reporter: police tell fox this was a unique and amazing story of happenstance and that finding nicholas simmons through a photo in "usa today" was like a one in a million shot. now, here's the photo that ran in the paper sunday morning. it was taken by associated press photographer jacqueline martin who was looking for ways to illustrate the unusually cold weather in washington d.c. martin was snapping pictures of a group of homeless men huddled around a steam grate, noticing that simmons looked young and asked for his name. he would only give his first name as nick. days earlier the search was on for this 20-year-old who was last seen without his phone, wallet or id. the published photo led to a social buzz on media as

relatives reached out to the "usa today" reporter who then tweeted the photographer a photo you took ran with my story today. a family has contacted me saying the man pictured is their missing son. well, the photographer tweeted back saying thank you for contacting me, i am in touch with the family now. police brought him to a local hospital where he was later reunited with his father. and simmons' mother reportedly posting a message online to those who had helped saying: this is by far the greatest example of god's love and divine intervention i have ever experienced. i spoke with the ap photographer, jacqueline martin, earlier this morning,. >> she says this has been an amazingly, incredibly rewarding of this experience, but the true heroes are the family members who were vigilant, and now we have this outcome. jenna: laura, thank you. jon: nice to have a happy ending. right now a man who slapped a crying toddler on an airplane is due in federal court for

sentencing. joe huntly has already pleaded guilty for the incident on a delta flight almost a year ago. patti ann brown is live in our new york newsroom, she has an update on that case. >> reporter: no sentencing yet, the hearing at 11 eastern this morning has started, we'll let yo know. but that flight was last february. joan that bennett started to cry, apparently suffering from ear pressure. the 60-year-old man in the window seat next to him allegedly uttered a racial slur, then slapped the toddler in the face. joe ricky huntley initially denied the accusation, but this october shortly before trial, he pleaded request fundamental to misdemeanor simple assault. he could be sentenced to up to a year in prison, but prosecutors are asking for six months. he says he was distraught on the flight since he was on his way to take his son off lotter. life support. he was unhappy about being

seated next to a child and had asked the flight attendant if jonah was too big to be on his lap. he was clearly intoxicated and finally when jonah started crying, huntley told her, quote, shut that n-baby up. jonah is black. his mother jessica bennett and her husband who adopted him are white. prosecutors allege he slapped jonah in the face, the fbi confirming there was a scratch below jonah's right eye. huntly was fired and moved to north carolina. jon? jon: patti ann browne, thank you. jenna: bitter cold is not the only weather issue for folks in the midwest, check out this thick fog covering one major city. the whole story on this after the break.

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is >> a thick fog moving off of the whaurt in chicago. water vapors above lake michigan created a frigid blast of a.

it is so, so cold in chicago, that the governor of illinois issued a disaster declaration. stay warm out there. >> even the national guards men going out there have to stay warm as well. >> thanks for joining us. america's new's head quarter ares is right now. >> a deep freeze for the history bocks. bringing dangerously cold weather to tens of millions of people. welcome to hq. i am alisyn camerota. >> and i am bill hemmer. first show of the new year. we haven't seen temperatures like these in 20 years. it is called the polar vortex. even places like north dakota and minnesota say it is unbe unbearable even for them. we have the extreme weather ceer