we'll have to see. a lot of you did know the great terry bradshaw and his connection to phil robertson. yep. they played football together. you are all so smart. thanks as well for being a part of "the real story." i'm gretchen carlson. now it's time to check in with shepard smith reporting live from the fox news desk. more than 24 hours since the snow hit the south. and some drivers are still stuck in it. now some of the governors and mayors are going on the defense in the midst of disaster in dixie. let's get to. >> now, shepard smith reporting live from the fox news desk. >> man, alive. it is a horrible mess in the south. rescuers in military humvees are right now trying to still reach some drivers stranded after the snowstorm paralyzed much of the deep south. just a couple of inches is all it takes to create a disaster there if the timing is right, and it was. from atlanta to the carolinas, birmingham and parts of florida, an eerie seen as folks abandon

their cars in the middle of highways. many of them forced to spend the night in makeshift shelters, sleeping on floors of supermarkets or gas stations. atlan atlanta's 911 system so clogged, cops asked people to hit them up on facebook or twitter. most places got about two to three inches. some a it wilittle more. clifdale, virginia, six inches. enterprise, mississippi, three inches. atlanta, 2.6 did the trick. and what a mess. if that doesn't sound like much to you in your cold weather town, you should really stop dissing the, quote, bumpkins who can't drive in a dusting o f snow because that ain't it. stop it now and try to understand for a those places don't do snow very often. this was one of those worst case scenario nightmares hitting places where the forecasters thought it would not at the worst time of day. think about it. why would atlanta have an army of salt trucks to use once every 3 1/2 years? why would birmingham have a

crisis planned for snow that hits in the middle of the day? businesses and schools let out. roads become bumper car tracks. birmi ingham is broke. they get snow as often as buffalo hits 100. snow rookies got blind sided and made rookie mistakes. >> people down south don't know how to drive in it. you got to keep your momentum going. they start up a little hill. they stop. >> we had to walk about eight blocks. then we ended upcoming down here. >> and we have no way home. >> no way home. yellow cab won't come and get us. >> there is nothing they could do. that's a story we're hearing all over the south in city after city, in state after state. we've been getting amazing pictures from across the region. one here shows commuters in atlanta -- well, that's the wrong one. let's put it back over here. look at this. i mean, atlanta, this is the junction of 20 and i think 85 is around there somewhere. anyway, doesn't take a lot of snow. they don't pretreat. you don't have an army of salt trucks to put the salt out there so you can glide on home like we do in new york and boston.

that's not how it works. a major american city crippled as drivers got into crash after crash. think of what happens. everyone's getting on the roadways. there's a wreck on every roadway. now nobody can move. emergency vehicles can't get there. trucks that are available can't get there. and you're stuck for how long? well, you're stuck till they clear all the wrecks out. they can't clear the wrecks out till they can get to them. what do you do? look at what kids -- see, this happened in the middle of the day. kids were at school. they start letting classrooms out in the middle of the day. parents are getting out of work going to try to pick up the kids. they can't do that. they can't get there. kids end up sleeping in gyms and classrooms. more than 9,000 students had to sleep in their gyms and cafeterias across the south. some stranded overnight in school buses. right in the middle of the highway. look at south carolina. a sight folks aren't used to. the palmetto trees at the state house in columbia coated in snow. then there's this. you can't always find a flyer there at the walmart in the deep south.

it's not easy. so these guys in tuscaloosa, they use a kayak. there are some fun stories out of this, but very few. that said, this is very serious. some are still stranded in the snow now. as i mentioned, in montgomery, what are officials telling people to do. >> reporter: is sun came out. we're sitting a little melting. despite the traffic you see on the highway behind me officials are saying if you don't have to get out and about, they're telling people to stay off the roads and stay at home as a precaution. meanwhile in georgia, governor nathan deal has announced state offices will remain closed tomorrow. and we encouraging businesses to do the same. already some school systems in georgia announcing closings for tomorrow. the rest will probably follow suit in the morning. take a look at this live shot of i-75 just north of downtown atlanta. there are still plenty of abandoned vehicles. road crews have been moving them over to the shoulder so they can

clear way for trucks to get in to begin removing the ice. shep? >> let's not pretend that leaders only make mistakes in small towns and medium sized cities in the south. look what happened with mayor bloomberg here in new york city when the disaster happened. there's no question. some people made some judgment errors here. >> reporter: yeah. you know, a lot of people are down -- down here are comparie ing it to dealing with a hurricane in the northeast. it's a natural disaster you're not used to. such is the case with this winter storm down in the south. there is, nevertheless, a lot of finger pointing going on in atlanta and georgia. a lot of people asking whether state and local officials should have trusted some of the more ominous weather forecasts early on that were predicting that atlanta would get two to three inches of snow. and whether they could have reacted faster once all of the forecasts, these conflicting forecasts, were in agreement that there was, indeed, snow on the way. people went to work on tuesday and school expecting no more than a light dusting.

then when the heavy stuff started coming down early in the day, everyone tried to get home at the same time. that's what tied up the roads. now, mayor kaseem reid of atlanta said in the future he's going to suggest a staggered schedule for people to leave work and school. listen. >> if we had it to do again, we would have said schools, you go out. you go first. private sector businesses, you go second. and government goes last. >> reporter: so that's the plan going forward. as you can see, we're still dealing with a lot of ice here. it'll probably take a couple more days before we completely thaw out. shep? >> jonathan, thanks. in atlanta they have unique problems. atlanta has doubled in population in the last 40 or 30 -- georgia has, 30 or 40 years. atlanta they have all these different governments that frankly some of them are red governments and some are blue governments. they don't all work that well together. who's going to coordinate a regional thing like this? they don't have the systems in place. they don't need them.

this happens every three or four years. normally it happens, and you close the schools before they go there. you know? people don't go to work. they're not all on the roads. that didn't happen this time. a lot of finger pointing, a lot of questions to be answered. right now they've got to get people safe. the red cross runs a service to help stranded people get in touch with their loved ones during this storm and any storm, really. this is the red cross website, safe and well, it says. it's right on the organization's website. we've hadded a link at foxnews.com/shep. it lets you enter a location along with a message for friends and family. you can search for people you're trying to find. a pretty good thing to have. technology did help one woman after her 40-minute commute turned into a 12-hour nightmare. can you imagine? she's set to give birth next month and was driving with her little boy when they got stranded. she posted a cell phone map -- i shouldn't say a map from the cell phone of her location to a facebook page called snowed out atlanta where some of the storm victims were asking for help. eventually it worked. a stranger came to rescue her.

her name is katie horn. she joins me from atlanta with her 3-year-old. katie, how you doing? >> i am doing well. just glad to be home, thank you. >> so it's my understanding that you got nothing in the car, like some tic-tacs, a 3-year-old and a belly that has grown recently and you don't have a lot of options. >> you know, i really didn't. me and my eight month pregnant belly and my 3-year-old. we rationed out a pack of tic-tacs for dinner last night. >> i heard your little one did well. >> he did great. he was thrilled with candy for dinner. >> tell me about this good samaritan. how did that go down? >> one of my good friends c.j. hammonds encouraged me through facebook to join the facebook page snowed out atlanta. eventually was able to read through a train of messages that there was a gentleman named craig close to my area. he was able to help craig locate me and my son in our car. and craig helped maneuver us out of the gridlock and get us

safely back to my husband, kevin, who has anxiously been awaiting us but because of the roads could not reach us. so it was a great situation. >> craig gets a medal. hopefully, like, i don't know. a gift certificate to -- i don't know. some fast food restaurant or something. katie, i know because you were up in the middle of this thing that you're probably following this on social media and the local tv there in atlanta. man, they're giving your leaders a hell of a way to go. >> yes. it's been interesting. i just -- you know, i've been asked before today, you know, are you pointing the finger? are you blaming anybody? i think for me, it really was just the perfect storm. you mentioned earlier in your report that everyone was kind of leaving work at the same time to get out of town. that's exactly how it happened. it was just a mass exodus that led to a standstill. >> i'm a southern transplant up here to new york for the past 15 years or so. i caught some people kind of giggling at the home folks. i'm like, you simply don't get it. you get a couple inches here, we already had an inch of salt on the road. it goes away.

we can handle it. y'all don't have that. you don't have anything. >> no, we don't. we're ill equipped for ice on the roads is one thing. when there's snow flurries, you know, i left work around 1:00 when it was barely beginning to stick. never in a million years do i think anyone imagined it would get to this point. >> no way. i'd love to see drivers in new york try to do that without an inch of salt on the ground. here comes the ice. because there's a lot of ice, too, isn't there? >> oh, it's covered. the roads are just sheets of ice at this point. >> good for you and the little one and the one that's coming. glad you guys are good. >> well, thank you so much. it was great to talk to you. >> all right. nice to talk to you, too. man, my brother texted me this morning. i was in washington overnight. my brother texted me, oh, you're on the train back to new york. it's 1 here. as in 1 degree in oxford, mississippi. not used to that. and it's not easy to deal with when you're not. all right. moving on from the weather. we'll get back to it. a member of congress, have you heard about this? caught on camera threatening to toss a reporter off a balcony in the united states capitol. >> i overreacted. and my emotions got the better

of me. i lost my cool. >> well, that is clear. ahead, the confrontation. we'll show it to you. the apology. you'll hear more of it. and the reporter who, well, has a lot of fox connections but was on the local cable news channel here in new york city. he talks about it all. said he had never seen a politician quite that mad. why was he mad? we'll show you.

there is breaking news now on fox news channel and a major selloff on wall street is hitting your 401(k) and hard. take a look at what's going on. just about 50 blocks south of us right now, the dow is off 205 points. that's 1.3%. here's what's going on. the fed indicated today that it's going to stop its aggressive buyback of u.s. bonds. about $10 million -- $10 billion pullback. it's rattled the marketings. in addition there are problems with turkey in south africa. because they're trying to prop up their economy and their markets in turkey and south africa, and there's widespread concern it's not going to be enough. those countries and three others threaten to throw everything into a sort of imbalance in the markets around the world. so a big selloff down on wall street. we were told a few minutes ago by fox business that this was sort of expected because of this fed pullback. but there are concerns that coupling that with these five economies, including turkey and south africa and the work that they're trying to do and

apparently aren't as successful as many want, could cause a major selloff this afternoon. an hour to go in trading. actually, about 45 minutes. we'll keep you updated throughout the hour. first, though, this lawmaker from new york is now apologizing for threatening to throw a reporter off the bleeping balcony. his name is congressman michael grimm. it was a grim encounter as he delivered a threat to a news reporter after last night's state of the union address. look at this. >> let me be clear to you. if you ever do that again i'll throw you off this [ bleep ] balcony. >> why? why? i just wanted -- >> if you ever do that to me again -- >> why? it's a valid question. >> no, no. you're not man enough. you're not man enough. i'll break you in half. like a boy. >> i hope you could read those words on the screen there. moments earlier that reporter for the local station, new york

1, says that he tried to ask congressman grimm about the ongoing federal investigation into his campaign fundraising. the congressman did not like that question, did not expect that question. was disappointed he got that question. certainly did not want to answer that question. and he walked away and then came back and made those threats. leah gabriel is here. the congressman now says he overreacted, the statement of the day. >> he is saying that now, shep. initially congressman grimm said that scotto has essentially taken a cheap shot by asking about that investigation. he said he had done the station a favor by offering them the first interview and that he really only had time to talk about the state of the union address. but later this morning, he admitted he was wrong. >> the bottom line is, this -- you know, this was an unfortunate incident that shouldn't have happened. you know, i'm sure my -- my italian mother is going to be yelling at me saying, you weren't raised that way, and she's right. >> a couple of hours ago scotto tweeted, representative grimm called to apologize. he said he overreacted and i accept his apology.

congressman grimm also said that scotto was very gracious when they spoke on the phone and, shep, he said the two are planning to even have lunch sometime next week. >> maybe they'll have it at scotto's. scotto is a well known name around here. rosanna scotto is the local anchor on fox 5 here in new york city and has been for 25 years or something. her whole family is in the restaurant business. everybody knows the scottos. he's her nephew. he seemed shocked when this happened. >> that's right. the two are related, as you mentioned. you know, earlier today she spoke with him on the phone. and he said he wasn't so much scared as he was a little surprised. >> i'm used to, you know, people getting angry when they're not happy about the question. but i think i was just startled kind of how it transpired and what he ended up saying. >> of course, we mentioned that investigation that scotto tried asking representative grimm about. you know, that has been going on since about 2012. shep, we should mention that representative grimm has not been charged with anything.

>> nope. investigation on the federal level is ongoing. didn't want to talk about it, it appears. >> didn't want to talk about it. >> lea gabrielle, thank you. at least he's not on this cruise ship. hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of passengers and crew fell violently ill or i should say they got sick. and it has just arrived home. did so in the last hour. one of our doctors from the fox news medical aid team is there. we're going to speak to one of the passengers onboard this ship. one with a fox news tie. we'll get to that, presently. ok, here's the way the system works. let's say you pay your guy around 2 percent to manage your money. that's not much, you think except it's 2 rcent every year. does that make a difference? search "cost of financial advisors" ouch! over time it really adds up. then go to e*trade and find out how much our advice costs. over tispoiler alert.dds up. it's low. really? yes, really. e*trade offers investmen advice and guidance from dedicated professional financial consultants. it's guidance on your terms not ours that's how our system works. e*trade. less for us, more for you.

hi dad. she's a dietitian. and back when i wasn't eating right, she got me drinking boost. it's got a great taste, and it helps give me the nutrition i was missing. helping me stay more like me. [ female announcer ] boost complete nutritional drink has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to support strong bones and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. all with a delicious taste. grandpa! [ female announcer ] look for valuable savings on boost in your sunday paper.

[ female announcer ] look for valuable savings on boost nwas the most watchedage otelevision event ever.s so, what's next? the upcoming winter games from sochi. where every second of nbc universal's coverage will be available on every device. on tv, online or streaming on the nbc sports live extra app. beginning february 6th, experience the winter games everywhere. welcome to what's next. comcast nbcuniversal keeping a close eye on the dow this afternoon. look how volatile this has been in the last few minutes. up and down here. they recovered 40 or 50 points. now back down 205. i mentioned the reasons a little while ago and the concerns about a major selloff this afternoon. dow down more than 800 points

since the new year. so in the last month. and we are a few points away from what would officially be a pullback in the market or a 5% drop in stocks on the dow, that is. all of the markets are trending lower. most of them down a percentage point or more. continuing updates until the markets close just about, what, 38 minutes from now. first, though, nearly three weeks after a chemical spill contaminated the water supply, some people are now breathing -- or breathing in a harmful carcinogen when they shower. that's according to a state official in west virginia. man. the spill there happened in the capital city, charleston, earlier this month. chemicals from a production plant leaked into the water, triggering a ban for hundreds o of thousands of people in that state. officials lifted that ban after a couple days. now a state investigator says that toxin can break down into formaldehyde, a compound linked to respiratory cancer if you inhale it. crews say they are still testing water samples for traces of that

chemical. on that cruise ship that's packed with sick passengers that has just arrived back in new jersey, they came back two days early because they got a ship full of sick ones. government health officials say now nearly 700 passengers and crew members came down with a really bad stomach bug that caused vomiting and diarrhea. the ship is royal caribbean's explorer of the seas. it docked just a short time ago in bayonne, new jersey. government data shows this is the highest number of sick people on any cruise ship since it began keeping records some two decades ago. there the explorer is now. that's the picture from the virgin islands. those health officials say they suspect the cause of this outbreak is the norrovirus. they're still waiting for test results to confirm that. several cruise ships reported cases of that disease last year. caroline emanuel was a passener on that ship.

she joins us now on the phone. she happens to be a cousin of the producer of this broadcast. caroline, how you doing? >> i'm doing a lot better. i'm off the boat. things are looking up. >> i know you didn't get sick during the course of things. we'll talk about what happened later. during the course of things everybody around you was sick, huh? >> everyone was -- yeah. there were people that didn't want to go to the infirmary because they didn't want to be confined. they're walking around spreading the virus. it was just -- paranoid to touch anything or be in close quarters. my boyfriend and i just spent most of the time, when we could, on the top deck. >> hey, you know, back when poop cruise happened over here in what was that, the royal caribbean had all that problem -- wasn't royal caribbean. it was carnival. from this one they kept saying they thought the cruise ship did a pretty good job with this. >> i actually beg to differ with that. >> okay. do it. >> just because from the very beginning i was not -- i was disgusted with our room was not clean. the bathroom was disgusting.

we had garbage in our room. >> somebody else's garbage? >> yes. someone else's garbage from the last crews, the last passengers in the room. >> wow. that doesn't sound perfect. >> so, you know, right off the bat i was kind of a little wary. they -- it was optional whether to purell your hands before going into the dining room. it wasn't mandatory. half the people on the boat are sick. >> i hear you got sick last night. is that true? >> it could have been just paranoia because i didn't want to get the virus. i was approaching the end. it could have just been seasickness. definitely keep an eye on it. >> glad you and your boyfriend doing pretty well. you know your cousin victor who produces this show went home sick today. >> i know he did. >> he probably caught it on the phone talking to you. kidding. caroline, glad you're good. we'll update you. our dr. siegel is there. when we get to talk so some passengers who are actually sick, we will do that. coming up, a plan that could

revolutionize college sports. revolutionize? this could change college sports as we know it. we know college sports are a money making machine for universities from coast to coast. we know that. and a lot of students want in on the action. and now a couple of players are trying to unionize. what would that do? hottie totty would not be as loud, i tell you that. can student athletes do that? that's ahead. [ police radio, indistinct ] the comeback trail.

there is no map. no mile marker. no welcome sign. one day you may find yourself here. to carry you he. at liberty mutual, we believe with every setback there's a chance to come back and rise. liberty mutual insurance. auto, home, life. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for him, he's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. and now i've got to take more pills. ♪ yup. another pill stop. can i get my aleve back yet? ♪ for my pain, i want my aleve. ♪ [ male announcer ] look for the easy-open red arthritis cap.

a fox report now and more of the headlines on the fox news deck. the house today passed a bill that analysts say will save more than a billion dollars a year in spending on farmers and food stamps. many republicans that initially pushed for deeper cuts to food stamps. the white house says president obama will sign the bill if it gets past the senate. opposition groups in syria say that for the first time, they talked to delegates from the assad regime about setting up a transitional government.

still a united nations mediator says both sides are a long way from any agreement to end that deadly civil war which has stretched on now for nearly three years. the latest rounds of peace talks ends on friday. a propane tank exploded as flames tore through a camping trailer in san jose. fire crews there eventually got it under control. no word of anybody hurt. investigators say they're trying to figure out what sparked the fire. much more from the fox news deck on the dixie snowpocalypse. that's coming up. óqoqúúñ@

we've been talking about wall street. another lousy day for the 401(k) and the i.r.a. i thought it was back on the wall. look at that wall. the past five days the dow has fallen more than 600 points. that's almost 4%. a reporter for the hill newspaper made an interesting observation. he tweeted today, dow down 648 points since justin bieber arrested for dui and drag racing. we cannot confirm whether the biebs has anything to do with

this. you can bet traders are keeping an eye on this week's federal reserve meeting. today the fed announced it will continue to slow the pace of its monthly bond purchases. officials there say the economy is still picking up steam. a group of college athletes could help change the multibillion dollar college football industry. and the way the ncaa treats its players. the big debate here is whether those athletes play for the school or work for the school. several football players from northwestern university in illinois say they plan to start their own labor union. they say the school should treat them as employees, because that's how they feel. northwestern quarterback cane colter is one of the players leading the charge. in a news conference that came yesterday colter said the current system, quote, resembles a dictatorship, unquote. and that it's time for the players to have a choice. of course, college football brings in a ton of money to schools. by the tens of millions in all cases. the top three most valuable teams ranked in tens of millions

of profits last year alone. but schools do not pay their players. at least legally. many schools argue that athletes attend universities first and fore most to get an education. and that payment is for the pros. the ncaa has held strong for years, saying students are just that, student athletes, not employees. officials at northwestern say they support a dialogue, but in a statement they add, and i quote, we agree that the health and academic issues are being raised by our students and others are important ones that deserve further consideration. but how much? evangeline gomez joins us. do these guys have a case in ornizing a labor union? >> the nlrb is going to decide whether or not they are actually employees. >> the labor relations board? >> exactly. just because you receive some type of compensation, in this situation they're arguing because they receive scholarships or a student stipend that makes them employees. no. they're going to look at the entire relationship. did the universities make an offer of employment to them? not at all.

are the students themselves treating themselves as employees? are they -- do they get w-2s? are they reporting what they receive as wages? reporting this to the irs, to the state taxi ining authoritie? do they pay fica? i don't think there are. something the nlrb is going to look at. >> part of their argument is we put 85,000 people in a stadium. they come to watch us. the university sells products based on us. they take this money and support other sports within the university with this cash. and we don't get any money. in fact, the school can tell us, you can't work, for instance. you can't hold a job while you're playing football. we feel like employees. >> well, it's a very seductive argument that they're putting forth, no doubt about it. the problem is, what the nlrb is going to look at is, okay, what are the ramifications if we also designate them as employees? this does not level the playing field. if anything it creates a coup in intercollegiate athletics. what about those state

universities? mississippi, alabama. in those states you cannot invoke the nlrb stach yupts because those are just for private universities. what's going to happen in that situation are all the best players then going to go to a place like northwestern or another private university and play football? what's going to happen to the state university? how are they going to be able to compete in the future? it will be the end of college football as we know it. which you're going to see some universities which are there to grant degrees, okay? they're not there to pay students just to be athletes. they're going to say, you know what? that's what you're going to do? we're going to stop having any types of, you know, college clubs. any college teams. any college athletics. i don't think it's going to go that far. >> i was going to say, what is your sense of where this push to unionize will go? where will it end? >> it may not end immediately at the nlrb. it may go further. but at the end of the day, you have to look at the ramifications. you can see potential violations of title 9. women's sports. inequity when it comes to women's teams versus men's teams.

how do you compensate these football players? there are some that don't play at all. they're on the team but they never play. there are some that do have college scholarships. there are others that don't. it just creates a big pandora's box. it doesn't really solve problems, it creates more. >> between this and the concussions issue there's trouble ahead. it's clear. >> it is clear. this actually may be a bone that's being thrown for students who think student athletes who think, you know what? we'd actually like some more rights. we'd like to be there at the table. but let's call it for what it is. they're getting free training while they're students. they're getting access to the top doctors, access to nutrit n nutritionis nutritionists, you name it. they're able to hone their skills to make themselves marketable to play at the nfl some day. >> not many of them will. but they all have the opportunity, i suppose. >> but that's what our society is based on. there are no guarantees. >> we'll follow it. because this would be a crazy turnaround. >> revolutionary, as you said, shep. >> it's a revolution,

evangeline. nice to see you. down there in alabama, mississippi, as she was talking about, they are having weather problems. huge ones. commuters down south still trying to make their way home in the atlanta area and others on day two of what should have been a short drive. the mayor of atlanta says people are still stranded after the storm that dumped several inches of snow on the part of the city. he's been speaking out hard. went off on a cnn anchor today. officials have -- at least snow at the wrong time. it's not that they don't get two or three inches of snow. they do. often the two or three impnchesf snow comes in the middle of the night or once you've canceled classes, told people not to go to work. the thing about this one, it happened in the middle of the day. kids at school, parents at work. they all head home at the same time. as i said, some people are still waiting for help. who am i going to get back to, julia? what you got over here, julia?

i need to take the microphone. i forgot to talk about this in advance. i didn't plan well, julia. atlanta didn't either in many ways. >> shep, we've gotten a lot of tweets in into this afternoon. just two hours ago will tweeted, i've been stuck in traffic for 36 hours, y'all. >> i got to call a foul on this. i snow it started snowing right after lunch in atlanta yesterday. it's now pushing 4:00. somebody can't add. i feel you. but 36 hours -- >> probably feels like 36 hours. >> probably feels like 36 days. i-85 often does. >> glad my sister's safe. she was stuck in her car on i-75 since 8:00 last night and traffic just started moving at 9:00 this morning. >> nothing people could do overnight. trucks couldn't get to them. >> my little cousin -- oops. my little cousin walked home in the snow because my other cousin was stuck in traffic and buses weren't taking kids home. there were a lot of kids stuck that we read in buses and still in school, even. >> yeah. i read about a lot of people who got -- who were driving home.

their cars stranded on the freeway and they had to walk. it was like, 20. >> yeah. yeah. they're not used to that weather. >> they're not used to it. hopefully they don't have to get. even as traffic finally starts to move in some of these areas officials are telling folks not to risk becoming the next person they have to rescue. our chief meteorologist is here at the news desk and at the 103-inch plasma. the national weather service didn't miss it totally. they thought it was going to go a little south of atlanta. >> listen, they were in a winter storm warning since the night before. they didn't miss it. they were saying one to three inches. they got 2.6. they didn't miss it. somebody missed something somewhere, obviously. you're right. all of this happened very quickly. one thing that is a little bit different, sometimes it can snow for a few hours before it sticks. but the temperature was so low right there, the first flake that fell was kind of sticking. >> that's what i shally happens down there. it starts to snow at 35. then it goes to freezing. so you have time. >> exactly. but it stuck right away. then you had all those cars on

the roads. this wasn't an ice storm. it was a snowstorm. but all those cars melting that snow, the temperatures so cold, that would freeze back right away. that's why you've got a black ice situation there. 2 1/2 inches in atlanta. they get 2 1/2 inches. it's not unheard of. happening starting about noon, going to 6:00 at night. >> then they made a rush hour at 2:00 by accident. >> everybody rush hour. your schools. your government offices. every business then has to go all at the same time. and that's the situation. think about it. 26 hours is how long probably some of those people have been trapped in cars. you've got about three hours of daylight left. it's going to go into nighttime again. tonight is a cold one. behind this right here, shep, where you've got still the rain, a little bit of freezing mixing down across parts of florida, now behind this is just some very cold air that's going to start to move in again. >> i just saw apalachicola. they had ice and snow. >> the panhandle of florida had a lot of ice with this one. they had a true ice storm. there's not as many people down there. the atlanta area, keep in mind,

they don't have the snow removal equipment. they have 30 salt trucks. >> wow. >> in that whole city. which is more than they had in 2011. in 2011 they had a big ice storm there and they only had eight ice trucks. now that's up to 30. with a city that big, 6 million people living in there, you can't -- unless you start that really early and plan, which didn't fully happen. >> who would plan it? all these different governments and municipalities to come together? forget about it. >> say we're going to spend that money on that? >> then you train them. the snow doesn't come for three more years. how many of those people are still left in the system? >> that's exactly the point. sometimes there are things that happen and you have to take a big breath and deal with it. tonight, 20 degrees in mobile. on the coast. on the gulf coast. >> wala our station there, i bet they are on storm watch 2014. jackson, mississippi. this is atlanta. >> atlanta, here you go. tomorrow back over -- we'll start to see significant melting of everything. by this weekend it's all gone. then just the memories and the

complaints. >> here's what more you think. 61, 45, and a 90% chance of rain. atlanta is back to normal. that day in new york is a big day. >> it's a huge day. we've been worried about this for how many years now? what's going to happen? farmer's almanac calls for a blizzard. everybody starts to believe that stuff which you should never. we're going to be all right. high temperature around 40 on sunday. >> 40. balmy. >> balmy. it's going to be a lot better. >> all right, rick. we'll have fun there. thank you. yet another terror warning one week ahead of the olympic games in sochi. this one comes from one of the top intelligence officials here in the united states. plus, the pope gets the rock star treatment on the cover of "rolling stone." now we're learning the vatican wants no part of this.

. . . . . . . . . . . it says here that a won's sex drive

increases at the age of 80. helps reduce the risk of heart disse. keep hrt-healthy. live long. eat the 100% goodness of post shreddedheat. doctorrecommend it.

how much money do you think you'll need when you retire? then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last. i was trying to, like, pull it a little further. [ woman ] got me to 70 years old. i'm going have to rethink this thing. it's hard to imagin how much we'll need for a retirement that could last 3years or mor so maybe we need to approach things dferently, if we want to be ready for a longer retirement. ♪ one of america's top counterterrorism officials says there is a substantial potential for a terror attack outside the olympics in sochi, russia. not on the olympic grounds themselves. the games begin in a little more

than a week from now. the director of national counterterrorism gave that warning during a wide ranging senate hearing on global threats to americans. >> the biggest issue from my perspective is not the games themselves, the venues themselves. there's extensive security at those locations. the sites of the events. the greater threat is to softer targets in the greater sochi area and in the outskirts beyond sochi. >> extremists have already vowed to attack the winter games. but russian security officials say they've built what they call, excuse me, a ring of steel around the olympic grounds. organizers also say sochi is the most secure venue on the planet. what else did u.s. officials say about the russians at today's hearing? >> well, shep, the fbi director james comby saying the cooperation is getting better since the boston attacks. certainly not implying it's where it should be with the russians. one of the other themes today is

that the al qaeda ideology, in or north africa, that it's spreading and syria has really become the new magnet for al qaeda fighters. we've also heard testimony there are now five official al qaeda franchise. it sounds like a business or a mcdonald's, but that's how they describe it. five franchises. >> those officials talked about the ed snowden leaks again, right? >> the hearing was really dominated, really the fallout of the snowden leaks and the impact and the damage. and the lawmakers were told that contractor edward snowden took so many documents that if you stacked them one on top of the other it would stretch three miles into the sky. the majority of documents aren't about privacy rights but sources and methods overseas and our alliances. >> the terrorists are becoming more sophisticated. they're going to school on repeated disclosures and leaks.

it's allowed them to burrow in. made it more difficult to find them and address the threats they pose. >> the most massive and damaging theft of the intelligence information in our history by edward snowden. >> are there men and women in military uniform who are potentially in harm's way because of what this individual has done? >> senator, i believe there are. >> not all lawmakers are on the same page. today senator wyden who's really been an outspoken and consistent critic of the programs, he's giving the american intelligence community just 30 days to reveal more details on the surveillance of average american citizens. so it sounds like senator wyden, shepard, really has another bombshell here beyond, you know, his original questioning about a year ago of james clapper about the collection of americans' phone records. it looks like there's something else going on here that he now wants to get on the record with them. >> look forward to finding that out. katherine herridge, thank you. the nsa leaker ed snowden spent the last year spilling

some of the government's biggest secrets, spying on individuals, elected officials, institutions around the world. ed snowden kicked off a massive debate about how america's intelligence agencies operate. today a pair of norwegian politicians nominated snowden for a nobel peace prize. the lawmakers releasing a statement they don't necessarily agree with ed snowden's actions but that his work, quote, contributed to a more stable and peaceful world order, unquote. snowden likely has dozens of competitors so there's no guarantee he'll win the thing. we'll find out in october. president obama and ed snowden don't see eye to eye on much. but they now have at least one thing in common. each man has been nominated for the prestigious nobel peace prize. president obama won it in 2009. the vatican is none too pleased with the new "rolling stone" article on pope francis. he's the first pope ever to grace the cover of a "rolling stone." the article is titled "the times, they are a changing." a vatican spokesman calls it

superficial journalism. he says the magazine portrayed his predecessor, pope benedict xvi in a negative light calls it shameful. a high profile murder case is getting more attention. one cable company cable companya channel dedicated to 24 hour coverage of the oscar pistorius trial. he shot his girlfriend while she sat on the toilet hiding from him in the bathroom. the murder case, 24 hour channel. i wonder if -- never mind. your eyes really are unique.

in fact, they depend on a unique set of nutrients. [ male announcer ] that's why there's ocuvite thelp protect youeye health. as you, your eyes can lose vital nuients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. ocuvite is a vitamin made just for your eyes from the eye care experts as bausch + lomb. ovite has a unique formula that's just not found in any leading multivitamin. your eyes are unique, so help protect your eye health with ocuvite.

7 minutes before the hour. a cable network is set to launch

a 24 hour channel dedicated to one murder case. it's happening in south africa. the country's top cable company is launching a channel dedicated to the trial of oscar pistorius the blade runner. what happened to that trial if they don't allow cameras up in there. >> a lot of talking heads on that channel, then. the female judge presiding over the case is known very much as a stickler for detail and she may not decide whether or not cameras will be allowed until just before the case starts and even if she allows cameras in the courtroom there's no guarantee the trial will be broadcast live because remember during the previous hearings cameras were allowed inside the courtroom but only to get pistorius coming in and leaving. once the court was in session

the cameras had to be turned off but with or without live television we're told this channel is going live 24/7 for the length of the trial which could be two or three months. >> that trial has no jury. >> no, no juries in south africa. so the judge will decide whether or not he is guilty or innocent. one of the reasons a lot of judges in south africa don't allow cameras in the courtroom is because they don't want the cameras trained on their every move and leads to monday morning quarterbacking. the new 24 hour channel is being put together by an investigative journalism show kind of like 60 minutes in this country. they'll also rely heavily on social media like live tweeting from the courtroom, et cetera. and the press release of this channel says the viewers will get fair and balanced coverage. it's catchy when you think about it. >> it's an interesting phrase. good to see you. we'll be right back. progress-oh! [ female announcer ] with 40 delicious progresso soups at 100 calories or less, there are plenty of reasons

people are saying "progress-oh!" share your progress-oh! story on progresso.com. her long day of pick ups and drop offs begins with arthritis pain... and a choice. take up to 6 tylenol in a day or just 2 aleve for all day relief. all aboard. ♪

hi dad. she's a dietitian. and back when i wasn't eating right, she got me drinking boost. it's got a great taste, and it helps give me the nutrition i was missing. helping me stay more like me. [ female announcer ] boost complete nutritional drink has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to support strong bones and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. all with a delicious taste. grandpa! [ female announcer ] look for valuable savings on boost in your sunday paper. from the why would you file,

now you can surround yourself with the smell of dough and milk and cheese all day long with pizza perfume. the company that makes this gem is demeter. the company's other scents include funeral home, sushi and even dirt. on the bottle it says simple, subtle singular scents each day everywhere. a little spritz -- yeah. don't do it. but if you -- god. if you have to -- what does it smell like? cheese. oregano. you can get it for $20 a bottle online. if you don't want to pay for it go to your local pizza shop and stand around for awhile. let's get the dow.

it's a late afternoon. they're worried about the fed pull back of the buying of stuff and turkey and south africa and it's all down. so we're down almost 5% which would be a pull back. actually the man that knows things about this is coming up now and i'll see you when news breaks out. >> well, thank you, stocks fall and the dow about 183 points less than it was. markets careening on unsettling news. the fed was cutting it's monthly nicotine amounts to the markets to $65 billion from $85 billion just a month ago. widespread panic in the emerging economy. turkey, brazil, indonesia, south africa all seeing their currencies under fire and investors heading for the exit door. add that to an emotions battled apple that added $500 a share