of fortune,o thank you. and you came shortly after me. bill: yeah. my eighth. martha: almost ninth, right? yeah. bill: august 2005. you came when? martha: january of '04. bill: you were working at one of those other joints. martha: thank god we're here, right? jon: 17 years for me, this is a fox news alert. the senate is voting right now on a matter related to the extension of unemployment benefits in this country. as you height know, about 1.3 million americans saw their unemployment benefits expire at the end of december. the senate is voting now on whether to extend them. it doesn't look like it's likely to happen. they need 60 votes to make it happen. so far they only have 57. two republicans voting with the democrats to get this done. right now they're in the middle of a cloture vote.

it doesn't appear at in this point -- at this point, our experts on capitol hill are saying, that the senate has the votes to get this cloture vote passed. if they don't, it appears this unemployment benefits bill is going to die there. but anything can happen in the senate. they're in the middle of the vote now. we'll keep an eye on it throughout the hour, let you know what happens. jenna: in the meantime, dangerous cold breaking decades-old records. forecasters saying some 187 million people could feel the effects of the eau lahr very six -- polar vortex as it spreads across the country. the tedly subzero -- deadly subzero temperatures moving into the east coast and into the south as well. take a look at what the arctic air did to this fountain in greensboro, north carolina. it is dangerous to be outside. when the cold can do that. wind shill warnings are stretching as far south as florida. as you can see there, the deep freeze disrupting thousands of flights, halting train service,

freezing up pipes and knocking out power. many businesses and schools are shuttered as a recaution. precaution. >> we have of this situation of many schools being closed. i think today most of the schools in michigan are closed. this isn't the day to have the kids go out and build a snowman or an igloo. the conditions are such where it's not safe to be out in this cold for very long, so please be careful. jenna: a different world when snowmen are dangerous, right, jon? [laughter] then you're really in the cold. this picture coming out of downtown chicago where wind shills are -30, a man walking past a bicycle encrusted this snow, and washington, d.c. metro riders trying to stay warm, and it hay be hard to tell in this next picture, but it's a sewer drain in kentucky. you can see frost patterns formed all around it. fox team coverage of the polar vortex, meteorologist maria molina, but we begin with rick leventhal in new jersey. rick? >> reporter: yeah, jenna. it's -14 with the wind chill

here, and we're wearing masks not for effect, but because you stand out here for more than a few minutes, and your face will freeze. our fingers and toes definitely freezing after just a few minutes out here. so it's pretty remarkable to consider that some people are working outside today not just police and firefighters and gas station attendants, but sanitation workers, we saw them out this morning and fuel delivery men are extremely busy, as you might imagine. anyone with fuel oil heat needs their tanks full. and we talked to steve this morning, a deliveryman for longhorn oil. he has been going from house to house to house since new year's eve filling tanks and trying to keep people warm during this record-breaking chill. here's what he told us earlier. >> we have no choice. we have to work hard, keep our customers warm. it's extreme conditions. we have a lot of senior citizens, so we have to stay out here. summertime it's a good job. right now, not such a great job. >> reporter: the good news for steve, his truck is heated, he

says it's his sanctuary. he's outside for a few minutes filling those tanks, then he jumps right back and moves on to the next job. jenna: as far as fashion choices, the mask and the hood really have a lasting impact. [laughter] it seems like you're really, you're dressing for many many areas in the country, rick. >> reporter: yeah. because this cold is not just this new jersey and new york which actually had a record low of 5 degrees overnight, but the midwest, the south, the northeast. there are many sections of the country that are seeing record-breaking low temperatures. i mean, it's 36 degrees in tampa. it's -29 in cleveland. you've got 3 degrees in memphis, tennessee. tennessee, one of many states where power companies are urging people to cut back on their usage because they're worried about power outages. in fact, there are tens of thousands of people with no power right now, and the numbers could go up as the mercury continues to go down. so there are schools that have closed or are opening late in

many states across the region. in pittsburgh they closed courts and government offices because they want people to stay indoors, and that is the best advice. if you don't have to go out, don't, because it's dangerously cold. and as one politician said, a mayor in indianapolis, you could die out here if you spend too much time and you're not dressed warm enough, jenna. jenna: henceforth, i can't believe we kept you out there for a second question, rick. good job. [laughter] thank you. very much. see you back in the warm studios here, hopefully, later this afternoon. >> reporter: i look forward to it. jon: how about steve the oil guy, he's out there delivering this stuff in a hoodie, a sweatshirt. whatever. let's take a look now at how bad this winter blast is getting and how long it's going to last. meteorologist maria molina live in the fox weather center. what are the answers, maria? >> reporter: you know what? rick is absolutely right. once you stand out there for just a couple of minutes, you really start to feel your cheeks. i was out there earlier for fox and friends and again just a

couple of minutes is very tough. so stay indoors, that's very good advice across the northeast, southeast and portions of the midwest. here's a look at some of these current wind chill temperatures. in new york city right now it feels like minnesota minnesota d -12. because of how cold it feels outside, we do have a number of wind chill advisories and warnings in effect out here. frostbite, hypothermia big concerns here within just a few minutes. you can see them stretching all the way down to parts of the florida panhandle. we did actually have some advisories early this morning into central florida. now, you've heard this term polar vortex, and that's really just very cold air that's always in place across the poles, but a piece did wreak off and produce these record-cold -- break off and produce these record cold temperatures. it doesn't directly influence

conditions at the surface, but it is something that is going on and has, actually, always happened. you can see in baltimore record low temperature set, 3 degrees, only 4 degrees in new york city and in atlanta, yes, you were in the single digits this morning, 6 degrees, a record low temperature. as we have this cold air going over the great lakes, we actually have some lake effect snow. very significant at times where we actually have a blizzard warning in effect for the city of buffalo with strong winds and an additional 1-2 feet tore cast off of lake erie and also off of lake ontario. the extended forecast out here, much better. take a look at atlanta. we mentioned that record low temperature early this morning of just 6 degrees, by wednesday you're back up into the 40s and take a look at saturday, sunday, it is going to teal nice, you're going to be in the 60s for your high temperatures. and many other areas are going to be warming up. thursday, by friday you're in the portions across portions of the great lakes and by saturday even better, new york city in

the 50s. back to you. jon: at least it's going to be brief. maria moline that -- >> reporter: yes, very brief. jon: thank you. jenna: right now is a dangerous time to lose power with temperatures hitting record lows, but energy companies in several states are reporting that's exactly what's happening to tens of thousands of customers. there are some things you can do to prepare, and it's good to have a reminder these days about that. stock plenty of fuel and to do in case your power does go out, find an alternative heating source, a wood stove, a fireplace, a space heater, maybe a generator. equip your car, you should have jumper cables, blankets and extra clothing handy just in case. jon: and a fox news alert as we await remarks from the president. he is set to speak about extending unemployment benefits. this as the senate holds a test vote right now on the bill. hello, i'm jon scott. jenna: hi, even, welcome to "happening now," i'm jenna lee, and we're live at the white house and on capitol hill right now. the president plans to surround himself with unemployed

americans as he steps up pressure on congress to pass an emergency extension of jobless benefits. today lapsed, of course, at the end of the year for more than a million people. the senate holding a test vote right now on the white house-backed bill. democrats seemingly have enough votes for the first round of cloture which means that the bill proceeds. it doesn't mean it passes, but it proceeds. all this as the president renews the clinical war on poverty ahead of the crucial midterm elections later this year. and this seems to set up a challenge for the gop. "the washington post" writing today, there is deep disagreement among republican leaders and strategists over whether to embrace an economic mobility agenda in the 2014 midterm campaigns. some republicans are wary of doing so, seeing it as playing on can democrats' home turf and think they are better off drawing voters' attention to the rocky rollout of the health care law and other problems plaguing obama. joining us now, karl rove, former senior adviser to george w. bush and a fox news

contributor. it is not warm in austin, so you're feeling the cold out there, karl. sometimes texas you can get away with it, but not the case here. talk to us a little bit about strategy here. what side do you fall on? is this an a agenda item that you think republicans should confront with their own solution or stay with obamacare and go that route for the next several months? >> well, look, obamacare is going to be a big driver of the 2014 election. it will be a stronger driver if republicans lay out a positive alternative to replace obamacare. but look, the economy's going to be a big issue, and we have a divergence of opinion here. president obama and the democrats are looking at the problems in the economy in terms of how do we take something from those that have to give to those that do not have? the republicans would be wise not to engage in that, but instead to focus on how can we grow the economy, make it stronger and more prosperous and more available to everyone? so a difference of outcomes for the democrats, let's have equality of outcomes, and the republicans, in my opinion,

ought to be focused on equality of opportunity. how can we provide more opportunity for people to rise, people who come from, you know, sort of modest backgrounds, how can we give them every shot at living the american dream? jenna: there have been some ideas floated out there. rand paul, for example, went to detroit, he's pitching an economic freedom zone as part of his idea to lower taxes in those urban areas. house majority leader eric cantor is promoting school choice as a way to address poverty, senator mike lee wants to increase the child tax credit. do any of those ideas sound like the right idea for republicans overall? >> i think there are elements of all of those that are attractive. we also have senator marco rubio has a major speech on wednesday on in the subject, congressman paul ryan, our vice presidential nominee in 2012, who's similarly focused on this. republicans do need to get their act together on this. they've got time to do so. and the difference is going to be between a party that wants to grow the economy and says the last five years have been insufficient and inadequate. we've got the weakest recovery

in the history of the united states, it is a not good for our country, it's not good enough. and the democrats who say let's keep doing what we've been doing which is let's find ways to take from people who have to give to the people who do not, and let's try and spend our way to prosperity. i was taken by the president's speech on the 4th of december when he sort of began to lay this all out, and it's clear the idea is government has to spend more money in order to strengthen the economy. we've been doing that for five years, and it hasn't been working out particularly well. jenna: but in doing this, the president -- along with other members of his administration and democrats -- really paint the republicans as a party that doesn't care, and that's been referred to as the empathy gap that republicans can't bridge, they can't somehow connect with the people they say that they want to help. how do you solve that? >> well, first of all, you need to -- they need to be very firm in what they're for. for example, the republicans have said, many republicans have said we're willing to extend these unemployment benefits, but we have to pay for them. let's take some of the waste

like in the free cell phone program which even the government's own auditors say is rife with abuse, let's find places in the government -- look, we've got a $3.6 trillion budget. surely, we can find $6.5 billion. that's less than two-tenths of 1% of the budget that we can stop spending money on in order to pay for this program of unemployment benefits. and remember, the unemployment benefits, the extension of them, is an admission of failure on the part of the administration. again, the recovery started in june of 2009. we've never had a recovery with unemployment so high for so long. and it's because of the government's programs, the government's policies, the government's attitude about this has not brought about the kind of robust recovery that we've seen in previous times. jenna: interesting to hear you describe it in that way, that it's an admission of failure when it comes to economic policy. surely, that is not w hear from the president in about 30 minutes there now. i know we're lucky enough to have you stand by, we're going to see how the president puts in

this out here in his first address of the year, and you'll have analysis after wards. see you in just a little bit. >> you bet. jon: might be a lot of folks huddled in front of their televisions watching the president. highs in some spots only reaching the single digits. when you factor in the wind, you get wind chill ratings way below zero. record-setting cold affecting millions and millions of folks. the weather dangers you these to know about. we'll go in depth. and she made olympic history, becoming the first american to win gold in the downhill, but lindsey vonn definitely will not be repeating that feat at this year's winter games. we have the 411 on why.

jenna: right now some international headlines we're watching today, new violence in iraq. militants backed by al-qaeda in the city of ramadi, the site

of key battles for u.s. troops during the iraq war. we'll have a live report on that. also, celebrating christmas in the gaza strip, about 1800 are marking this holy day, orthodox christians. and in spain today, princess christina subpoenaed. she's suspected of tax fraud and money laundering. jon: a princess? jenna: a princess in trouble, jon. jon: now for the fox 411, a top u.s. skier will be skipping the winter olympics in sochi. american lindsay von announcing an injury will keep her off the slopes this time around. julie banderas is here with details. >> reporter: as you were talking about earlier, she suffered several injuries leading up to this, so really not much of a surprise. she's a tough cookie. the sochi olympics will be missing lindsey vonn who will not be competing in the upcoming winter olympics according to her publicist who says in a statement after the incident involved there an mri showed an

mcl sprain, which coupled with the torn acl, has made it impossible to stabilize her knee and be ready to safely ski again next month. vonn, who is 29 years old, is the most successful female alpine skier in american history with 17 world cup titles including a record six consecutive downhill titles and four overall crowns. she is seen here skiing in the 2010 world cup. in total, she holds 59 world cup victories and is just short of tying the women's all-time record of 62. but it has been a rough and tumble year for the olympic medalist who crashed last february tearing two ligaments in her knee, then partially tearing the same acl in november during a downhill training crash in colorado. she returned to the world cup tour in early december, then came the injury in france where she crashed while her boyfriend, tiger woods, watched from the bottom of the course. her return to competition was ramped up to be one of the most

exciting comebacks for the olympic games. american athletes are reacting to the news on twitter, one from her teammate, stacy cook, who tweets: bummed lindsey vonn, our team is not the same without you. you leave big shoes to fill for the rest of year. vonn is scheduled for surgery soon and is expected to make a full recovery in time for the 2014-2015 world cup season. it's incredible. imagine skiing again after one of these injuries -- jenna: we could ask jon about that because jon has done that. [laughter] jon: i never tore as many ligaments in one shot -- >> reporter: i have seen you limping around the building quite a few times over the course of several years, i just want to say. jon: yeah, i've add my share of -- >> reporter: this man beats himself up as well. jenna: when you live an active lifestyle, jon, the risk associated. jon: i love to ski, that's all we can say. we wish lindsay well. it would be nice to see her match that record. >> reporter: i think she's going to be back. jenna: well, a possible breakthrough in treating concussions. why doctors say kids may want to

lay off the home work in an effort to recover were the and maybe even faster. and as an icy blast makes its way east, it's causing trouble for americans all over the country and when this extreme weather will chill out. people join angie's list for all kinds of reasons. i go to angie's list to gauge whether or not the projects will be done in a timely fashion and within budget. angie's list members can tell you which provider is the best in town. you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare. now that we're expecting, i like the fact i can go onto angie's list and look for pediatricians. the service providers that i've found on angie's list actually have blown me away. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust.

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[ male annncer ] it's how edward jones 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. jon: right now there's a possible breakthrough in treating concussions. researchers looked at more than 300 young people ages 8-23 at a sports concussion clinic. they found patients could recover in half the time if they rest their minds as well as tear bodies after a head -- their bodies after a head injury. that not only means no sports, but things like no video games

and, get this, even no homework. joining us now, dr. steven garner from new york methodist hospital. this was a pretty extends i -- extensive study, and the results were surprising. >> a lot of people don't know what a concussion is, and if you think of it as a black and blue type injury to the brain, i actually brought this skull in just to show you quickly what we're talking about. jon: and no mannequins were harmed during the production of this segment, we should say. [laughter] >> basically, the skull surrounds the brain. the skull is very hard material. when your head get withs knocked, the brain gets knocked into the front of the head or the back, wherever the injury is -- jon: bruise, basically. >> a bruise. jon: yeah. >> now, you don't need a concussion to have amnesia, to have nausea, vomiting. how do you headache a finding of con -- make a finding of concussion? have you ever had one? jon: i don't think that i have, but it's possible. >> there's no x-ray test, there's no physical test so far, so what these doctors are trying to figure out is in order to

know how to treat it, know if the person actually has a concussion, they found chemicals getting released when the brain got damaged and chemicals got in the bloodstream as well as in the spinal fluid, and they're able to correlate that with the amount of brain damage. jon: i can easily see where if a child gets a concussion in football or hockey or soccer you would say to your child, okay, you're not going to practice for a week or two weeks or a month, whatever, but the idea that you tell him don't do homework or don't do video games, that seems counterintuitive. >> it does. but what happens is when you get a concussion, there's a decrease in the formula that the brain needs to function, the glucose and other chemicals. so if you use your brain to think, you use those chemicals up, and it actually slows the progression of healing to the point where you may heal 100 days -- it may take a hundred days to heal if you don't take time out for cognitive thinking. so you can cut the time to heal in half. jon: that's what parents should know, and i just want to stress

this, video games, even homework, things like that, can actually slow down p the healing process if your child has had a concussion. >> these kids should not be at school. and, unfortunately, parents pushing for the scholarships, they know the kid's going to get a college scholarship he's got to keep playing, it causes a lot of damage to the brain if you keep playing on top of a concussion. a second concussion on top of the first, many people die from that. of you don't see it as a big injury, but it is a significant injury particularly to kids' growing brains. jon: so when the brain hits the wall or of the skull and you get that bruise, it takes an enormous amount of fuel for the brain to start to repair itself. that's where the exhaustion comes in. >> exactly. the blood supply to that area goes away. how is the brain going to heal? it needs the nutrients. jon: are there symptoms, i mean, if a kid is doing too much after concussion, is there a way to know? >> headache, doesn't sleep

properly and restlessness, you notice the kid is not himself. this is a very serious topic, and because you don't have a test for it as of now, this is what this study's going to be the best for. jon: good warning for parents. dr. steven garner, thanks for coming in. jenna: we're awaiting remarks from the president on extending unemployment benefits. he's expected to speak about the issue as the senate just passed one of two test votes on the bill. but that bill is still very much up in the air and still very controversial. even if it makes it through the senate, it will have a tough road in the house. plus, why a teenager is spending his nights sleeping in this snow cave in minnesota. [woman] ask me what it's like

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jon: still to come this hour, airline delays across the country from the winter blast reaching the east. how scheduled flights are keeping up after it got too cold to fly overnight. a look how this record-breaking cold could affect the economy from fuel to produce. what could be costing you more in the months ahead. plus major fighting in some key iraqi cities. government troops fighting al qaeda-linked militants. an update on the battle ahead. fox weather alert now on thousands of travelers stranded as record lows paralyze flights across the country. you can see the windchill numbers on this map. many passengers are still stuck with nowhere to go a no clue yet when they will be on the move again.

>> we waited on the phone for over an hour and she said, if your flight is canceled like it has been the last three nights, the next flight out isn't until january 11th. >> it is frustrating when you call the 800 line they hang up on you, so you can not even stay and wait for a person and have to physically come down. jon: fox business network is live at laguardia airport in new york. adam? >> reporter: jon, it is cold but at least things are, if you can say this, getting back to normal at laguardia. that includes plenty of delays and a few cancellations. nationwide here are the latest numbers from flight away. 2081 flights canceled nationwide with roughly 1952 delays. there are a whole bunch of delays at laguardia. cancellations are in places like milwaukee and minneapolis. on southwest.

jetblue canceled 300 flights to boston and new york, newark, jfk. 10 a.m. they promised to resume the flights and said by 3:00 p.m. this afternoon they will have their operations restored to 100%. some areas still experiencing the worst or misery as flight aware says, are chicago's o'hare, chicago midway, detroit's airport. washington, d.c. and atlanta also seeing delays of the cold weather and cancellations. here at laguardia, last night they had cots, blankets, for people who got stranded but that has all been cleared away. it is on the second floor. they are prepared for things to resume to normal. although with 2181 cancellations it is hard to call it normal. jon, back to you. jon: let's get the country moving again. adam shapiro thank you. jenna: the frigid weather can impact everything from filling up your car to heating your home and getting frozeries. schools and businesses are shutting down as a result of the

weather. the windchill is making it worse. it was 5degrees below in rhinelander, wisconsin, this morning. at one point it was 4 degrees in central park. which sound a lot warmer than negative 52, doesn't it, john? that did break a 111-year-old record set back in 1896 in new york city. in atlanta, georgia, temperatures dropped to 6 degrees. chicago, minus 10. that is up six degrees from yesterday's record cold but still pretty cold. this is weather people have not experienced before. only six places across the united states saw temperatures below zero. maine, on big black river. mount washington, new hampshire in 1885. tiny northeast corner of nevada in 1937, towns in mexico, utah and vermont. i'm reminded one of our viewers in bakersfield, california, it is 70 degrees. that said it is the exception to the rule.

sandy duncan is managing editor of the farmer's almanac and phil flynn, from price futures group. great to see you both. sandy, farmers almanac has been doing this 200 years. you called this. you knew it would be bad? >> we did. when the 2014 farmer's almanac we said, we went out on a limb and used four-letter word, cold, cold for the winter ahead. we usage. >>tives like piercing, bitterly and biting cold. what we saw for the whole country pretty much. we said 2/3 of the country would see below average temperatures for this winter ahead. that is based on a secret and formula for our weather forecasting that dates back to 1818. it is based on a set of rules that started in the 1800s, that took weather cycles and based on sun spot activity and action of the moon, position of the planets. it is a whole formula and the formula proves pretty accurate

over time. jenna: it is faves nating. farmers almanac and work you do. orange juice to natural gas, to oil, what do you think will be the biggest impact of the cold when it comes to what we're spending money on in the next few weeks? >> i think it will be natural gas prices. people have been lulled to sleep. we look at farmers almanac. they were right on. we used other adjectives for cold. i can't use them on the air but there were a lot of them. tell you what, natural gas we've gone up 20% since november. the possibility we'll go a lot higher and this is a market everybody kind of was lulled to sleep on. we have record supply. don't worry about natural gas prices. you will see those prices go up. we've seen record highs in new york city. some cash prices around the country are paying higher prices for natural bass than they ever had before and while you're not going to see them in your bill maybe this week, at some point those utilities will pass them back on. you know what? it is even orange juice. it could be even wheat.

cold temperatures can damage the hard, red winter wheat. when you get the cold temperatures, the seeds are in dorman system some of the highest quality wheat in the world could be damaged so we could be reducing that yield. also of course when you talk about orange juice, we could see a little bit of a freeze in florida. those prices are up. just about everything can be impacted by this cold and will be. one good news about the cold, it probably helped retail sales last week. a lot of people going out to buy cold, warm clothes and extra gasoline and extra food. you know, we saw that actually in the numbers. at least on short term economic boost from the cold. of course now the weather will level off when we pay higher bills for everything else. jenna: you mentioned orange juice and wheat. we're top exporter in the world of wheat of course. what about cattle as well? sometimes we do stories about cattle when it gets cold and what is happening in that industry. are there any lasting effects

you see? >> i think so. we saw record high for feeder cattle and fat cattle today in the cattle prices. we're seeing the highest prices we ever paid for meat. this is an industry, if you remember earlier in the year got hit with that freak snowstorm where we wiped out a lot of cattle crop. this is adding insult to injury. right now the cattle right now have to burn more energy to stay warm. so you can't take them to market. so you will see lower weights for cattle in an industry already struggling. that means when you, buy your stake in a -- steak in couple weeks you will see higher prices than today. anybody that bought a steak recently, prices are high. they're only going higher. jenna: i'm reminded as we're talking about this it is only january 7th. we're only seven days into the new year, sandy. sandy, you guys have been right in the seven days so far, what do you see for the rest of the year? >> well according to the 2014 farmers almanac it looks like the cold temperatures are going to come back.

look like there is a little bit of relief toward end of this week but looks like it will come back the end of january. and for the first 10 days of february it will be very wintery-like. that could cause problems at super bowl being held in new jersey there year. jenna: your prediction on the super bowl and weather made headlines. it is a big story without being close to the super bowl. as we're getting closer to see the weather, i'm sure a lot of folks will pay attention. sandy, phil, great to see you both. thank you very much. >> thank you. jon: mepron coast are ready for a cold super bowl. jenna: your broncos are ready. so are my niners with the performance in green bay. jon: they did very well. got to hand it to them. while the deep freeze is keeping many americans indoors one teen is embracing the arctic air in minnesota. he is out sleeping in it. jenna: come on. jon: yep. rudy humel built the snow cave. sleeping outside the home, part of a goal for the entire year.

mom didn't kick him out into the yard. when the temperatures dropped he got creative. >> i have a pvc pipe for ventilation. a shovel in case i need to dig myself out at some point. piled it up half this size. i put in wooden posts with my dad. jon: rudy is hoping to find a way to use his outdoor adventure to raise money for charity. so you, you know, if you have some ideas, want to support him, get in touch with rudy. jenna: i bet a young jon scott would have sort prove project like that, don't you think? jon scott, at 17, i bet you were full of those ideas. jon: i spent a night in snow cave, but not for an entire year. jenna: i knew it. i knew it. we'll be curious to see how rudy keeps his string going for next several months. we're live from the white house where the president is set to speak moments from now on his push to get congress to extend unemployment benefits for millions of americans.

this as the bill clears a hurdle in the senate. we'll look at positives for all of this coming up. millions of americans logged in the deep freeze. record-setting cold with windchill warnings extending as far as south florida. what you need to know to protect yourself from dangerously low temps and brutal windchills coming up. too big. too small. too soft. too tasty. [ both laugh ] [ male announcer ] introducing progresso's new creamy alfredo soup. inspired by perfection.

jenna: new next hour, the battle over unemployment benefits heating up on capitol hill. a key measure clearing a senate hurdle today. we'll look what could happen if when it hits the house if it does end up there. reports there are jobs out there, nearly four million available in this country yet the unemployment rate is at 7%. why the disconnect? we'll explain.

convicted child molester jerry sandusky wants to get paid. our legal panel debates whether the former college football coach should get thousands of dollars a month from his pension while in prison. jon: fox news alert. we are keeping an eye on the white house as we await the president's remarks on extending unemployment benefits for more than a million long-term jobless americans. his comments come just as the senate passed a first test vote on the white house-backed bill. democrats getting enough republican support to get the bill advanced but some in the gop say, this bill is not a real effort to fix the problem. our next guest write that is it is not that conservatives don't want to help people. most do, and that is why arbitrarily extending and creating enlightment programs is not something worthy of praise, when you repeatedly extend government entitlements you inadvertently create a culture of dependency. that does a great disservice to people who use them. few people want to use the programs when the solution is

just more money. the problems of unemployment and poverty have not been addressed. ellison barber who is the person who wrote those words. she is with the washington free beacon and she joins me now. what do you think personally about extending unemployment benefit right now, allison? >> i look at unemployment benefits and i don't think they're necessarily a bad thing. unemployment is 7.2%. that is much higher when the program was originally started back in june of 2008, when it was around 5.5%. if you look at situation it is one of proposals to say yes, i voted to extend unemployment for you. it is really not a solution at all. putting a check to something does nothing to solve the underlying problem of unemployment. this program has been in existence for five years and we've been adding and extending more money. it hasn't done to fix long-term unemployment and it is more than it was before. it is ineffective.

you do a disservice to people who actually need the benefits by only providing them money because you are not providing them a solution and there are ways to provide money and use unemployment benefits to provide a solution to the problem. right now they're not considering that the at all. they're saying, let's by a check and putting something over a rusty situation and we'll deal wit later. i don't think that is adequate for anyone who needs these benefits. jon: you have written about some possible suggestions, ways that the government could spend its money better to encourage people to go out find work. you want to share some of those? >> one thing i'm particularly keen on, relocation assistance. you don't have to necessarily make people take money to use it for relocation assistance if they don't want to. unemployment benefits, equals $300 a week. you can have the money and have the check and use it as federal emergency unemployment compensation, if you like, or we will use the money, give you a lump sum up front you can use for relocation assistance and

find jobs in other states like north dakota where they have ha job surplus and help you relocate. a lot of people on long-term unemployment don't want to be there. they have been there a long time. part of the requirements to be eligible that you're actively seeking a job. if you provide people to actual move to find another job, a lot of people would probably take it. why not instead of giving them money give them an option. you can have the money, keep looking for jobs in your state where you are not having very much success or we'll give you money to go to places where there are a lot of jobs and opportunities for you and you can maybe move there and find a new job and work and go from there. jon: at the top of the hour karl rove told jenna, essentially this push by the democrats and the white house to get unemployment benefits extended again is an admission that their economic policies have failed. what do you think about that? >> i think to some degree it is. i would say again the point i made earlier, when the program was started in 2008, the unemployment was around 5.5%. it is now 7.2%. we have 1.5 million jobs less

than we had before the recession. clearly there has been an issue in how the administration gone about making economic changes and haven't necessarily benefited the average person because our unemployment rate isn't doing much better. that they feel they desperately need this there is failure government policies they have had to date where it hasn't reverse ad trajectory of unemployment. even when people were last month, recently appointing latest job report is good thing, you look at jobs best recession, that you see it is 1.5 million less still today. that is not really big improvement. with 1.3, people in long term unemployment that is not a lot of people. jon: let's look to see if we can get people off the roles of unemployed. allison. thank you very much of the washington beacon. >> you bet. jenna: windchills warnings and advisories are in effect here in new york city. an update on the extreme winter

weather coming up.

jon: deadly attacks now in iraq as the iraqi government troops step up the siege of two cities threatened by fighters affiliated with al qaeda. it is happening in the western province of anbar. greg palkot is following the story from our london bureau. greg? >> reporter: jon, our word on the ground there is that tensions and troops are building up in that area of western iraq that has seen so much bloodshed, so much sacrifice from u.s. troops in the past. iraqi troops are clashing with al qaeda-linked militants outside of the city of fallujah. we again are told that hundreds of terrorists from an al qaeda offshoot, called the islamic state of iraq in syria linked up with local tribal leaders in that city to gain control. there is fighting over other

cities in that embattled region as well. the iraqi military at very moment is threatening a full situation invasion of that city. tanks and artillery are ringing fallujah. there are big worries about a bloodbath while the sunni muslim majority in that city might not love al qaeda, they hate the shia-led government of prime minister nuri maliki. there are big concerns about a full-scale ground operation. that is reminding a lot of people of the full-scale ground operations we saw in in 2004 involving u.s. troops. they too were involved in getting rid of militants in the city. the white house is announcing a speed up of drones, surveillance aircraft and missiles to the government of iraq but in fact they're defending with no boots on the ground. that is the latest from iraq. back to you, jon. jon: greg palkot from london. thank you. take you to the white house, this fox news alert. the president is pushing for

extension of unemployment insurance in this country. let's listen in? >> have gone from bust to boom. manufacturing is rebounding. housing market is rebounding. stock market is restorying retirement accounts. energy independence is actually in sight. health care eating up cost less cost in the economy. for the past four years health costs are growing at slowest rate in record. since i took office america's deficit has been cut in half. we're making progress. the economy is growing. we have to do more to make sure all americans share in that growth. we have to help businesses create more jobs. we have to make sure the jobs offer wages and benefits that let families rebuild a little security. in other words, we have got to make sure this recovery leaves nobody behind. and we've got a lot of work to do on that front. the good news is i'm optimistic

we can do it if we do it together. before the holidays both parties compromised on a budget that lifts some of the drag that has been on the economy from these indiscriminate cuts we call sequester. as a consequence this year we may see more stability when it comes to economic growth. and, i think, i'm not alone in saying that we are all grateful in the new year that we won't have another partisan shutdown hopefully going forward. [applause] so, so that was a good sign and we should built build on that progress with what i said should be the first order of business in 2014 and that is extending insurance for the unemployed. [applause]

the good news is this morning the senate took a very important step in that direction. for the americans who joined me at the white house today and millions like them who were laid off in the recession through no fault of their own, unemployment insurance has been a vital economic lifeline. for a lot of people it is the only source of income they have got to support their families while they look for a new job. these are not folks who are just sitting back waiting for things to happen. they're out there actively looking for work. they desperately want work but although the economy has been growing and we've been adding new jobs the truth of the matter is that the financial crisis was so devastating, there are a still a lot of people who are struggling. and in fact, if we don't provide unemployment insurance it makes

it harder for them to find a job. you heard cat trip's story. she is far more eloquent than i could ever be. she wrote me last month to say, please let those who think i'm sitting at home enjoying being unemployed know that i would much rather be working. i had a chance to talk to catherine. i think it is pretty clear that that's the case. catherine went on to say, i have applied to everything for which i'm possibly qualified to no avail. i worked hard all my life, paid taxes, voted, and engaged in political discussion and made the ultimate sacrifice, my two sons serve in the u.s. military. job loss is devastating and if i could fix it myself i would. i challenge any lawmaker to live without an income. that is what catherine said.

[applause] it's hard. so when we've got the mom of two of our troops who is working hard out there but is having to wear a coat inside the house we've got a problem. it is one that can be fixed and catherine's not alone. evelyn smith watching today from her home in california wrote me about her hunt for a new job. since she was laid off 13 months ago, she sent out hundreds of resume's. she volunteered. she has done seasonal work. she doesn't want to be sitting around the house. she is taking online courses to learn new skills. without unemployment insurance she won't pay for her job and shell phone which makes a job hunt that much harder.

evelyn wrote to me and said, i wanted nothing more than to find a new full-time job and i dedicated every day to that mission. i'm asking you to advocate for me and millions like me who need our extended unemployment benefits to make ends meet. so, i just want everybody to understand, this is not an abstraction. these are not statistics. these are your neighbors, your friend, your family members. it could at some point be any of us. that's why we set up a system of unemployment insurance. the notion was, everybody is making a contribution because you don't know when the business cycle or an economic crisis might make any of us vulnerable. and this insurance helps keep food on the table while dad is sending out resume's. it helps mom pay rent while

learning new skills to earn that new job. it provides that extra bit of security so that losing your job doesn't mean that you have to lose your house. or everything you worked so hard to build for years. we make this promise to ourour fellow americans working hard to get back on their feet because when times get tough, we are not a people who are on their own. we're people who believe that we're all in it together and we know there but the grace of god go i. [applause]

>> it's been done multiple times when the unemployment rate was significantly low or than it is today. and what's important to keep in mind also is that the recovery in a big country like the united states is going to be somewhat

uneven, so there's some states that have a 2.5 unemployment rate, and there's some places that may still have a 7, 8, 9% unemployment rate. the people living in those respective states may be working equally hard to find a job, but it's going to be harder in some places than others. now, two weeks ago congress went home for the holidays and let this lifeline expire for 1.3 million americans. if this doesn't get fixed, it will hurt about 14 million americans over the course of this year. five million workers along with nine million of their family members; their spouses, their kids. now, i've heard the argument that says extending unemployment insurance will somehow hurt the unemployed because it saps their motivation to get a few job. i really want to, i want to go

at this for a second. [laughter] um, i -- you know, i -- [applause] that really sells the american people short. i meet a lot of people as president of the united states. and as a candidate for president of the united states. and as a u.s. senator and as a state senator. i meet a lot of people. and i can't, i can't name a time where i met an american who would rather have an unemployment check than the pride of having a job. [applause] the long-term unemployed are not

lazy, they're not lacking in motivation, they're coping with the aftermath of the worse economic crisis -- worst economic crisis in generations. in some cases they may have a skills mismatch, all right? they may have been doing a certain job for 20 years, suddenly they lose that job. they may be an older worker, may have to get retrained. it's hard sometimes, employers will discriminate if you've been out of work for a while. they decide, well, we're not sure we want to hire you, we'd rather hire somebody who's still working right now. so it's hard out there. there are a lot of our friends, a lot of our neighbors who have lost their jobs, and they are working their tails off every single day trying to find a new job. now, as the job market keeps getting better, more and more of these folks will find work.

but in the meantime, the insurance keeps them from falling off a cliff. it makes sure they can pay their car note to go to that interview. it makes sure they can pay tear cell phone bill so -- their cell phone bill so that if somebody calls back for an interview, they can answer it. and katherine explained this. katherine, in the letter she wrote to me, said that do folks really think that cutting this benefit will make someone hire me? that's not how employers are thinking. so letting unemployment insurance expire for millions of americans is wrong. congress should make things right. i am very appreciative that they're on their way to doing just that thanks to the bipartisan work of two senators. we had a democrat from rhode island, senator reed, and you

had a conservative republican from nevada, senator heller. and despite their political differences, they worked together on a plan to extend unemployment insurance at least for three months, temporarily, while we figure out a longer-term solution. and this morning a bipartisan majority of senators agreed to allow this common sense provision to at least move forward in the process. now, the senate's a complicated place, so just because they agreed -- [laughter] on this vote, all the to so far is that we're actually going to be able to have a vote on it. they haven't actually passed it. so we've got to get this across the finish line without obstruction or delay, and we need the house of representatives to be able to vote for it as well. and it's -- [applause] that's the bottom line. [applause] voting for unemployment helps people and creates jobs, and voting against it does notment

notment -- not. congress should pass this bipartisan plan right away, and i will sign it right away. more than one million americans across the country will feel a little hope right away. and hope is contagious. you know, when -- [applause] you know, when katherine has a little bit more confidence about her situation when she finds a job, she's going to be able to help somebody down the line maybe who's also down on their luck. you know, when congress passes a bipartisan effort starting here right at the beginning of the new year, who knows? we might actually get some things done this year. [laughter] you know, so after all the hard work and sacrifice of the past five years to recover and rebuild from the crisis, what i think the american people are really looking for in 2014 is

just a little bit of stability. let's just do the common sense thing, let's do what's right. we're going to have to, we're going to have to see action, though, on the part of congress. and i'll be willing to work with them every step of the way, action to to help businesses create more of the good jobs that the middle class grows, restoring economic mobility, reducing inequality, access to people who are willing to work hard and walk through those doors. you know, when i was listening to katherine, i was just so struck by her strength and dignity, and i think people when they bump into someone like katherine, they're not looking for pity, they just want a shot. and -- [applause]

they just want to feel as if -- [applause] they just want to feel as if, you know what? as a part of this country, as a part of their communities that if misfortune strikes, all the things that they've done in the past, all the hard work they've done raising children and paying taxes and working hard that that counts for something and that folks aren't suddenly just going to dismiss their concerns, but they're going to rally behind them. that's not too much to ask. that's who we are as americans. that's what built this country. that's what i want to promote. [applause] so thank you very much, everybody, and let's get to work. let's get this done. i appreciate it. [applause] jon: so you heard there the

president's argument for the extension of unemployment insurance benefits in this country, benefits that ran out at the end of 2013, 1.3 million americans lost benefits as a result. you heard the arguments. let's hear now from karl rove, a former senior adviser to president george w. bush, also jonah goldberg, editor at large for national review online, both of them fox news contributors. forget the argument about the essence of the argument, karl, just as a presidential use of the bully pulpit, how do you think that president obama did there? >> well, he did okay. but, look, he can't help himself. he has to come out and say, well, congress went on vacation for christmas, letting in this benefit expire. well, mr. president, you did nothing in december to try and get a deal, and you went on a lovely two week vacation playing golf in hawaii. so this is, this is the kind of

unnecessary rhetoric that makes getting a deal done more difficult. the president could get this done and get done quickly. there seems to be a consensus that enough republicans would vote for this if the cost of it were offset. that is to say the $6.4 billion cost of extending these benefits for three months, if you could find a way to offset that out of the $3.5 trillion budget, a deal could be done. that means you've got to find cuts that are less than two-tenths of 1% in the federal budget. you've got to find a dollar of savings out of every $2500, and he could have gotten this done in december before the time came for these to expire, but instead he wants to use this for politics and to, quote, reset his administration. i'm impressed with the sort of nice staging, but i'm not impressed with the fundamental underpinnings of this appeal. jon: jonah, we have just about a minute before the commercial break hits, but i wrote down some thoughts from the president. he said it's the common sense

thing. let's do what's right. all it takes is a little action from congress. as though maybe he really doesn't have a role to play here. what do you think? >> i think there's something to that. i mean, this was, you know, a purely political sort of soft demagoguic appeal. one of the things i found striking about it is this is a guy who's always said he's on the side of sound science, of pragmatism, of following the data and the reality-based community, and he makes it sound like the overwhelming consensus of economists is selling the american people short. he says that this doesn't have a negative effect on people's motivations to find work, it doesn't have a dampening effect on people taking jobs. but the overwhelming consensus from even paul krugman's own economics textbook says that it does precisely that. i'm not saying necessarily we shouldn't extend these benefits, but he makes it sound as if no reasonable person could disagree with his position when, in fact, the data point that he's wrong. jon: all right. we are going to invite the both

of of you back on the ore side of a commercial -- other side of a commercial break. we have to do some business here, want to hear a response on the president's push to extend uninsurance benefits in this country. will congress go along, and will they offset the cost? that's coming up. hey kevin...still eating chalk for heartburn?

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jon: back with us now, karl rove, former senior adviser to president george w. bush, and jonah goldberg, editor at large nor national review online -- for national review online. jonah, let's consider the case of the woman that the president -- well, she introduced the president, and the president talked about her a lot during his remarks there, katherine hackett of connecticut. worked for a long time, ross her job, two sons in the military, just needs a little help, you know, paying the mortgage and getting back on her feet. says she would take a job in a heartbeat if she could find one, but she can't find one. how do you say, i mean, americans are not hard-hearted people. how do you say that somebody like that shouldn't get some more unemployment benefits?

>> well, first of all, unemployment is not an entitlement, an unfunded entitlement. it's supposed to be a kind of insurance program where you put in money, and then you get it back when you get unemployed. and these benefits have run out for a long time for most of these people. but i'm not necessarily against extending unemployment benefits, i think you could make a case for it if it was part of an overall package of how do you reform the system. but there's an inherent contradiction here. whenever any critics of the president say that the recovery was paltry or that the economy is not doing well, that obama's policies haven't worked, you get jay carney out there screaming bloody murder about how the economy's doing great and the recovery's in full effect and all the rest, and yet at the same time they say that we need to extend these unpaid for emergency unemployment benefits to millions of people. well, which is it? in some ways it's sort of a bad commercial for president obama, because what people take away from this is that in the sixth

year of this guy's presidency, they still need to extend unemployment insurance to millions of people. it's not a great recovery. jon: yeah. crrl, you also had the president there slamming republicans for the partisan shutdown of government and talking about the horrible idea that the sequester was which was an idea that came out of his white house. there was a bit of revisionist history in those remarks, it seems. >> yeah. sure. look, this was a very political speech. look, let's be honest, the administration, whether it likes it or not, is admitting that its economic policies have failed. never before in the history of unemployment insurance have we been four and a half years into a so-called economic recovery -- which we've had starting in june of 2009 -- and had to extend unemployment insurance another time. it's an admission that the administration has presided over an anemic economic recovery. and why? because it's based on a fundamentally flawed theory that somehow or another we can spend our way to prosperity. remember the stimulus with all those shovel-ready projects and

how it was going to bring immediate progress and prosperity for the country? we have been doing that for five years, and the country has had the worst economic recovery in the recorded history of economic statistics for our country which goes back to the latter half of the 19th century. and what the president proposes to do is more of the same. jon: and borrow, i guess, money from the children and grandchildren of the people who are there on the podium so that some of these benefits could be paid for. >> and he could get a deal. i repeat, he could get a deal if he was simply willing to sit down and say, yeah, we can find one dollar out of every $2500 that the federal government spends that we could forgo spending in order to pay for this. jon: we'll see whether the senate goes on with that. jonah, real quickly. >> there was one other irony, in some states you have a 2.5% unemployment rate and other states you have 7, 8, 9% rate, it's in the states like north dakota with fracking that they're having very unemployment rate, the places where his

policies are being put into effect like new york and california, those are the places that are doing badly. jon: worth noting. jonah, karl, thank you. jenna: cold like we have not seen in decades in some places like we've never seen before. we're live on the streets of chicago where the wind chill -- farmer: hello, i'm an idaho potato farmer. 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, "happening now," the iraqi military is deploying additional tanks around fallujah today, preparing for a possible assault on the city where al-qaeda-linked militants are digging in. fighting is also happening in nearby ramadi. that said, in iraq the fighting is not as simple as the good guys of the iraqi government against the bad guys of al-qaeda. what's emerging is also a battle along sectarian lines. the sunnis on one side, the shia iraqi government on the other. sunni versus shia fighting is happening across the middle east. some suggest the violence is

worse post-arab spring. "the wall street journal" today: it's becoming increasingly clear the arab spring didn't merely shake up the power structures of the middle east, it launched a total transformation of the region, one that has reduced american influence and will ultimately compel the united states to rethink its stake in an area that for half a century was assumed to be central to its global interests. syria's civil war is bleeding into the neighboring nations of remember than and iraq, weakening the central governments of both and setting off parallel fights between the armed sunni and shia groups. joining me now is washington wa, fox news terrorism analyst. do you agree post-arab spring, the violence between these two groups has ignited even further? >> they have, jenna. look, the iranian-led shia movement versus the salafi sunni-led jihadist movement are clashing everywhere. as you just said in the

introduction. first in iraq, it's very visible, fallujah and other cities, but also in syria. an offshoot of shia aided by hezbollah. in lebanon also you have the same phenomenon, but also if you go south to the arabian peninsula in bahrain, you have a sunni/shia tension and also in northern yemen. so on the face of it, regionally, yes, there is that clash. but my question to those raising this argument, is it really all of the shia versus all of the sunni or the radicals who are fighting? jenna: it's interesting that you point that out, because it's something when we look at iraq we should mention it's not as simple as we try to explain it, that there are sunni that don't like the shia government, there's also sunni that are working with the shia government because they don't like al-qaeda. with these complexities though, often folks want to throw up their hands and say it's very complicated, it goes back centuries, and we shouldn't be

involved. what do you think? >> look, the sunni/shia factor is driven by the radical forces. if you go and run an analysis or a referendum among the sunni and the shia, what you're going to find is that the majority of people within the communities are moderates. we've seen in egypt, for example, for years we have seen, oh, a majority of egyptians want sharia, and we saw 33 million anti-muslim brotherhood. if you do the same in the sunni areas of iraq, you'd see that the moderates are more than the extremists and the same in the shia. the problem is that those moderates we have not engaged them, we have not empowered them. it's like the national socialists in the '30s in germany, they had power. jenna: it's interesting, again, to tie it back to iraq, that we did empower the moderates this the anbar awakening. our military was there, we worked with tribal leaders and then helped push the enemy, which was al-qaeda, away from the good folks that were in the cities as well. what do you say to people that say if we had troops still in iraq, this would not be

happening? would it still be happening? would it still be happening at the same level? what's your opinion? >> i would say this, jenna, that the goal of our troops, of our entire presence after crumbling saddam hussein was to find be partners, organize them, empower them and as you just said in the anbar province, we succeeded. so the occupation of iraq at one point was succeeding. we did the same with moderate shias. but the way we left iraq was not successful. he left it in the hands of a government that was very close to iran, and we left our allies, the sunni moderates, inside the triangle. it's a mathematical operation. after we left them, who's going to be there? the radicals. jenna: what do we do now? >> we need to give support to fight al-qaeda but very careful those weapons are not going to fall into the hands of the iranians and this is not going to be empowering mr. maliki. we need a better crafting of policies in iraq. jenna: just a real quick final question for the region overall because, again, we're seeing

these splits in violence, especially as you point out in syria, and the falling of these secular leaders like saddam hussein, like hosni hue bark, of course, criticisms of both as major dictators. but will we see a redrawing of the middle east ohs this era, post-arab spring with the conflicts we're seeing on the ground, and is that something that, perhaps, we should support? because geographically the land is changing. >> we should support termination for all these groups that want to establish their own government, but we should support the moderates among them. weso, yes, we should give freedm and support to these populations, but support the moderates inside those populations. look what happened in e ji., for example. -- egypt, for example. that's a great example of how the moderates were able to bring down the muslim brotherhood, on their own. jenna: and how we engage them is a great topic for further conversation. you'd think we have the plan ready to go, but sometimes you

wonder if we really do. it's great to see you, as always. thank you very much. >> thank you, jenna. jon: well, he is locked up in general serving a minimum 30-year seasons, now jerry sandusky is fighting to reclaim the pension benefits he lost when he was of convicted. should he be with entitle today that money? our legal panel weighs in. and the arctic air sweeping across the country still going very strong. janice dean is here next with what you can expect this your area. hey, j.d.! >> reporter: how cold is it, jon scott? we'll tell you across the country, coming up. stay with us! whoo! [ male announcer ] start the engine...

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♪ visit floodsmart.gov/pretend to learn your risk. jon: we continue now with our coverage of the thing squid temperatures sinking their east into the u.s. it is after noon here in new york. normally, the sidewalks of midtown manhattan would be crowded with folk thes getting their lunch, right, jenna? jenna: it looks like about six a.m. out there. jon: looks like a ghost town right now. the only thing that's moving are people in their heated cabs. even this north carolina where the weather is usually pretty moderate, a record chill freezing this fountain, and the subzero temperatures in the northeast made worse by the wind chill dipping the mercury into the negative teens in some areas. our meteorologist janice dean is all brave and bundled up outside our new york studios. j.d., how does it feel out will? >> reporter: it's 6 degrees. it's a balmy 6.

it just went up a degree the last hour. one of the local forecasters here in new york said he took a bite out of his coffee this morning, which is not far off really. yes, the northeast is really getting the brunt of the cold weather. let's take a look at those maps. the good news is we're going to see a warm up within the next 24-48 hours across most of the country. we've been in the icebox really for the last week across portions of the northern plains. there are some of the record lows we set, -14 in detroit, 4 in central park, atlanta, georgia, 6. these are actual air temperatures. trying to push my button. you know what? i actually think my button -- my hand so cold, i can't press my little clicker button. there are the current wind chills again sort of locked up in canada and pressing southward. feels like -22 in chicago which is warmer than yesterday. feels like -12 in new york and 5 in atlanta. they closed a lot of schools in and around the atlanta, georgia, area in the morning. it's just too dangerous to be

out there with those wind chills. and then your forecast wind chill throughout the day if you live in the northeast, it's going to continue to be around freezing, below freezing, maybe a couple of digits above freezing. so this is really, we haven't seen temperatures like this in several decades. and and i just want to point out, with the cold air, the very arctic air moving over those relatively warmer waters of the great lakes, we could see 1-3 feet of snow, buffalo, you're actually under a blizzard warning. and then as i mentioned, yes, there is a silver lining here. look at new york, okay? 13 today, by saturday and sunday in the 50s, and we'll all be wearing shorts in central park. that is for sure comparatively speaking. so we just have to get through the next couple of days, jon scott, and then it'll feel like springtime. jon: and you're out there doing the meteorologist hop to stay warm. i see that. >> reporter: it's the only thing i can do. i've only been out here for ten minutes, and already hi little hands are so cold, i can't even

click my clicker button. jon: oh. of i'm going to come open the door for you. >> reporter: you're such a gentleman. jenna, i asked jon scott if he had a nice warm hat, and he does, he has one of those ski masks that you go rob a bank in. jenna: well, now we know. [laughter] >> reporter: he won't be robbing banks, of course, but he's dressed appropriately. jon: thank you. stay warm. jenna: dual purposes. freezing temperatures settling over the midwest for the second day in a row, the mercury reaching subzero levels that haven't been seen in some 20 years. garrett tenny thinks janice dean's basically in the heat at this point, being what he's experiencing out in chicago, right, garrett? >> reporter: it's so true, jenna. you need to learn some of those dances from j.d. while we're at it just to stay warm. you can sees the warming up. this is the salt that they have been laying on the street pretty much all throughout the weekend and back into last week. it is finally warming up just enough. you can see on the roads that it's starting to be able to

clear them off. over the last few days that's been a problem with just how cold it was, that salt wasn't as effective as they wanted it to be. but you can see here on the sidewalks even though the roads are improving, people are still heeding that advice to stay indoors if at all possible. and while the travel conditions are improving on the road, they're not a whole lot better in the air. o'hare's canceled more than a thousand flights so far today. american airlines was saying that last night it was so cold that their fuel and their deicing liquid actually nose over there at o'hare airport. now, while the travel conditions are going to be rough in the air, the temperatures are improving. officials are saying, though, it is still dangerously cold outside. they're encouraging people to stay indoors. so far 19 reported death cans related to this cold that has been working its way through the midwest. regents hospital in st. paul, minnesota, had a record number of frostbite cases it has reported so far. and so far here in chicago

schools are canceled as well as throughout much of region as well as tomorrow, and they're just hoping to keep people inside until it warm withs up at the end of the week. jenna and jon? jenna: garrett, thank you very much. appreciate you braving the cold and your crew, by the way, as always. thank you. jon: well, what starts off as a normal day pumping gas suddenly turns into a terrifying scene as this car sets off a dangerous chain reaction. >> how you feeling, camarota? >> it's cold out here. it's 7 degrees. >> what are we doing out here? >> we're supposed to be doing a tease for the show. >> well, we came out here so you didn't have to. >> great plan. >> you had enough? >> i have. >> me too. see you in a couple minutes. [ male announcer ] alka seltzer plus presents the cold truth. [ coughs, sneeze]

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it's a good thing you had life insurance through the colonial penn program. you're right. it was affordable, and we were guaranteed acceptance. guaranteed acceptance? it means you can't be turned down because of your health. you don't have to take a physical or answer any health questions. they don't care about your aches and pains. well, how do you know? did you speak to alex trebek? because i have a policy myself. it costs just $9.95 a month per unit. it's perfect for my budget. my rate will never go up. and my coverage will never go down because of my age. affordable coverage and guaranteed acceptance? we should give them a call. do you want to help protect your loved ones from the burden of final expenses? if you're between 50 and 85, you can get quality insurance that does not require any health questions or a medical exam. your rate of $9.95 a month per unit will never increase, and your coverage will never decrease -- that's guaranteed.

so join the six million people who have already called about this insurance. whether you're getting new insurance or supplementing what you already have, call now and ask one of their representatives about a plan that meets your needs. so, what are you waiting for? go call now! we'll finish up here. jon: some new information now on former penn state assistant football coach jerry sandusky. he's launching a bid to try to restore the retirement benefits

he lost after his conviction on charges of child sex abuse. sandusky is currently serving a minimum 30-year sentence, had been getting nearly $5,000 a month from a state pension fund. but that ended the day he was convicted back this october 2012 -- in october 2012. well, now his lawyers are trying to argue that sandusky's went fits have nothing to do with the -- benefits have nothing to do with the case against him and should be off limits. let's talk about it with lis wiehl andxhtt doug burns. it's an interesting case. he is claiming that, you know, he was not a state employee even though he worked for penn state university. it was, he was not getting checks from a state fund and, therefore, his pension, there was no right for the government to take away his pension as a result of his conviction. lus, i see you shaking your head. >> love the lawyers, got that love them for trying it, but he's absolutely going to lose wn assistant coach, as you mentioned, it was a federal -- a

state-funded retirement ram that he was in. there's a pennsylvania statute right on point on this. when you commit crimes -- and, actually, even used the university to facilitate some of those crimes, by the way -- you forfeit your pension. and clash 60,000 a year, you really want to be that judge that says, oh, yeah, let's give $60,000 of state-funded taxpayer money to this guy who's behind bars. jon: there is this thing called the pension forfeiture act. but again, he's saying i was not a public employee. >> look, notwithstanding lis' cynicism that no judge wants to be on the front page deciding that jerry sandusky should be keeping retirement benefits, you know, the reality is we would hope they'd analyze on the merits. you rook at the forfeiture section, it says that on conviction of a serious felony, including the ones he was convicted of, you forfeit your pension. remember something else, this is

an appeal. this isn't the first time around. he's already lost, the pension's already been taken away, and now he's appealing. the reason i say that, obviously, is because the statistical percentage of winning an appeal, particularly on these facts, is extremely, extremely low. >> and, doug, i'm not being cynical, i'm being reallystic. -- realistic. you look at the law, it's clearly on point that once you commit these crimes of indecent acts against children being by far worse than some of the other crimes, you lose your pension. the taxpayers do not want to pay for criminals behind bars. jon: you know, what about the fact, i mean, you know, his wife testified on his behalf during the criminal case, everybody's heart seemed to go out to this poor woman. apparently, she had no idea what he was up to. she is also being barred from receiving any of his benefits. is that, is that -- i mean, is there any, i don't know, mercy exemption here for her, doug? >> well, there's no technical

mercy exemption in the forfeiture statute. however, it's what we lawyers call an unintended, you know, negative recipient. in other words, why should family members be punished. but let me get back to the case itself. what sandusky is saying -- and, again, he already didn't prevail on this though -- he's saying that these acts happened at a time when he was not working for the university. the problem with that argument, jon, is that he had all kinds of access and rights and so on. jon: he did retire in the '99. >> right. >> he had access, he had rights, he also was being paid by the state university -- by the university. not a whole lot of money, but it was directly coming from the state right there on a technicality. we lawyers love the technicalities, that bars him from getting the pension. his wife, i mean, i'm sorry, i'm sure she's a lovely woman, whatever, but once he's barred from it, she's barred from it as well. jon: the lawyers, doug, are arguing this is some kind of mob

rule, that the court is bending to, you know, public desire for vengeance here. >> well, that's what lis had said. and again, you know, she is right. if you took a poll, jon, think about it right now as you guys often do, you know, write in do you think jerry sandusky should get his pension? what's that going to run, 98% against? it's got to be adjudicated. he's making an argument that he was only a de facto -- that was of the term i saw the lawyers using -- de facto employee, not really working there. maybe he has a chance. but, again, since it's an appeal, i'm predicting that he's going to lose. >> no court is going to go against that original ruling saying he was barred from it by the statute. no court is going to go back from that, i can tell you. jon: and, doug, i would say the number would be closer to 100%. [laughter] >> i love how compassionate lis is with the wife. >> i'm sorry. that's the truth, that's the law. jon: it's a case we'll keep an eye on. doug, lis, thank you both.

>> my pleasure. jenna: an update on the process of two ships trying to break their way out of the antarctic. and did you though the nfl for all of its billions is a nonprofit? and pays no state or federal taxes? one senator is working to change that. we have the details ahead. i was going to the library to do my homework.

it took a lot of juggling to keep it all together. 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.

♪ ♪ jenna: panic at the pump after a car crash nearly blows up a gas station. this attendant, just finishing filling up a customer outside of boston, when you see that blue car plowing into him throwing him 30 feet and igniting flames. another worker rushed this to put out the flames. the injured attendant is recovering in a nearby hospital, police are looking into what caused the driver to run into

him. jon: an update now from near the south pole. after spending weeks in antarctica's icy grip, a wreak today for two stranded slips. patti ann brown live. >> the newsroom with the latest. >> reporter: you may recall a russian research ship got stuck in ice on christmas eve. a chinese ice breaker ship was sent to rescue the peaks, but -- passengers, but that ship got stuck in ice before reaching the vessel. so last week a helicopter transferred dozens of passengers to an australian ice breaker, but that still left 101 people on the stuck chinese ship and 22 crew members on the russian ship. well, earlier today the chinese snow dragon broke free. it spent 14 hours making a 100-degree turn, pushing the ice away and opening a channel of water. and the russian ship is also free now. a change in wind direction shifted the ice drift, opening a crack which the ship drove into. that ship's captain says they're

sailing at low speeds through dense fog with poor visibility, but they do expect to eventually reach ice-free waters. meanwhile, the 52 scientists and tourist rescued from the ship was due to arrive in new zealand today. and the poe to lahr star is still believed to be enroute although at this point it may not be needed. jon: shades of titanic in this. [laughter] >> reporter: with a much happier ending. jon: we hope so. patti ann, thanks. jenna: lawmakers are looking to make professional sports pay up, particularly the nfl which earns $9 billion a year in revenue and which, believe it or not, pays no federal or state income tax. new legislation is working its way through the senate that would change all of that. fox business network's elizabeth macdonald is here with more on this. we watch a lot of football of late, liz, and never really heard about this. >> reporter: who knew that the nfl was tax-exempt? this is the most powerful sports league in the country, and it does not pay federal or state

income taxes because it is a tax-exempt nonprofit, and that's the status the nfl has had since 1942. but with the massive and growing $17 trillion deficit, republican senator tom coburn of oklahoma wants to end this tax break for the or nfl. the senator has been pushing new legislation to erase the tax-exempt status for the nfl and also for the national hockey league, the pga and the lpga and the u.s. tennis association. senator coburn says the nfl and the others ought to pay taxes just like for-profit corporations do and even major league baseball is a for-profit league that pays taxes. the senator also says his bill could bring in up to $109 million over ten years, and some policy experts also note that some nfl executives make more than executives at for-profit companies like walmart or coca-cola. but the nfl's lobbyists are out in force in d.c. to stop the bill.

plus, league executives argue the nfl does share much of its revenue back with the teams itself where that revenue is taxed. jenna: that's an interesting argument. jon: yeah. but if you tax the nfl, they're just going to raise the ticket prices. >> yeah, that's a good point, and merchandise and items they sell in the stadium. jenna: it's still a fascinating story. 1942. great to see you. jon: well, take a look at this, a familiar face beneath all the frost and bundling up. do you recognize this man? we'll tell you who it is next. when you have diabetes like i do,

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all right so before the break, we showed you the froze know face. sub0 temperatures and all of the frost in chicago cannot stop our tough guy mike tobin from making the trip to work. this is how he looks like when he's not all bundled up.

>> mike is a real journalist. he wanted to get out there and experience it and have experiences to draw from. >> mike to bein is the only guy i know who ski races up hill. >> thanks for joining us. >> america's news headquarters starts right now. >> mike is staying warm. tens of millions, record low temperatures, way below 0 and the blast of artic air freezing just about everything inside. i am bill hemmer. >> and i am alisyn camerota. and hitting more than the usual places. and chicago and minnesota and northeast and even the deep south is feeling the deep freeze today. and we have them standing by outside of the fox world head quarter ares and rick and carter in new jersey in feels like minus 12