live from the kgo-tv broadcast center this is abc7 news. the big chill across america has a name that is new, the polar vortex bringing miserable dangerous weather. the victims are wonder, when will it end? >> the life-threatening cold is affecting an unusually large part of the country, 187 million people are feeling the effects of record-breaking low temperatures. author mom materials are taking a dive from the deep south to new england well below freezing mark.

mary has the story from washington, dc. much of the united states is resembling the north pole, a dangerous arctic blast crippling the country, plunging temperatures to record-breaking lets. >> not doing any good. >> what is the worst part of the cold this morning? >> the wind is very, very bad. >> it hurts your face. >> i cannot talk right now. >> it is called a polar vortex a whirlpool of frigid arctic air bringing freezing temperatures to every state but hawaii creating a frozen nightmare for travelers, stranding commuters on the road, airports, and on the tracks. a chicago family trapped in their car for more than 15 hours. >> i told my husband, the next trip we take, we will be flying. >> air travel is no better. jetblue on monday canceled all flights at four major east coast hubs. some have resumed.

>> there are so many in the same boat no point getting angry. >> 500 amtrak passengers stranded outside of chicago, trapped by blowing, drifting snow. some amazing polar portraits of the winter snow, lake michigan is steaming cold, the water far warmer than the freezing air. a water main break threatened to turn this ohio street into an ice rink. the deep freeze shutting schools and icing fountains in the deep sitting. >> here in washington, dc, the air and whipping winds are bone- chilling cold, and down right dangerous. frostbite can kir in -- occur this five minutes. >> the cold has an impact on flights cross the country including the bay area. our reporter is at sfo with a look at what travelers are facing. >> mess at the airports and it

continues to impact bay area passengers. here are the latest numbers from the past ten minutes: across the nation, 2,393 cancellations today. sfo has 31 cancellations, oak has 12 cancellations and san jose has four cancellations. this is creating a major backup and could take days to work through the system. this traveling band of siblings hit a bad note on the way across country to hartford connecticut. the flight was canceled and they are now rebooked for thursday. >> what we seeing if any friends can meet up with us. we don't know to we will have to book another hotel room for a couple more nights. we are trying to save must be. >> travelers used suitcases as pillows as sfo after several thousand flights were canceled across the nation the past several days. today, a third of the flights to and from chicago have been canceled and other parts of the

midwest and the northeast are seeing major weather-related issues. >> airline employees say they spent long hours on the job since last week, sometimes 16 hours or longer in a day as they try to get customs home. >> we want to help them the best we can but this is only so much you can do. it is e emotionally draining for us. >> your wish for the next couple of days? >> clear skies. in snow. >> if you make it to the destination, this is in guarantee your luggage will arrive with you. >> brian is less than hopeful looking through the sea of suitcases left behind at baggage claim after a 24 hour odyssey that started yesterday morning. >> left st. louis, again verify, san diego, then here, so three altogether. >> where do you think your luggage went? >> anywhere. hotels are taking up the slack

for stranded passengers with 20 rooms booked at the local best western and the general manager is waiting on the airlines to let him know if more rooms are needed. the cold weather has affected amtrak trains including one from the bay area. the train was stuck in illinois after hitting a 12' know drift that shut down the engines at 1:00 o'clock our time yesterday. these are pictures on the train that started in emeryville headed to chicago. two other trains were also stuck including one from southern california and one that crosses illinois. amtrak says all passengers should arrive in chicago 20 hour after they became stuck. the man accused of setting fire to the chinese consulate in san francisco last week made his first court appearance. amy hollyfield is at the federal willing with the new developments. kristen, this is our first look of the forecast.

no cameras are allowed but we have a sketch. 39-year-old daly city is thin, he has long hair and wasn't in court long the he got an attorney from the public defend are assigned to represent him. he had a mandarin speaking interpreter. he turned himself in and admitted to committing the crime that was caught on surveillance video. police believe that he tossed cans of gasoline at front door of the chinese consulate in san francisco and set it on fire. no one was hurt. according to court documents he targeted the chinese consulate because all of the voices in his head were speaking in chinese and the consulate had to have been involved. the f.b.i. does not think this was politically motivated or a terrorist threat. he is in custody. he does have his hearing set for next week and they will democrat whether he will stay in jail.

>> the all clear has been given following a gas location at a hayward elementary school this morning, over colonial actioners at 8:30 and all students were evacuated. firefighters tried to stop the leak. a pg&e crew capped the leak 15 minutes later. >> >> we are hearing from a woman whose quit thinking led to the rescue of an abducted seven-year-old girl. roxanna ramirez was a target employee heed -- employee saw took down his license plate number. when she heard of the amber alert she called the police. the girl was in the back seat of his car. the suspect said it was a "cry for help," to get out a

situation. the information of cox cox was d information provided by cox cox -- by roxanna ramirez. >> this woman lied about her involvement claiming she helped find the kidnapped girl. police say she did not play any role in the case. a federal judge canceled a hearing in the case of 13-year-old jahi mcmath now she is moved out of children's hospital oakland. doctors declared jahi mcmath brain dead last month, following complications from tonsil surgery. they will not say where she was, but her uncle was in los angeles appearing in an interview with cnn. >> it is tough that we are not able to communicate with her. we communicate with her kind spirit but we would love an opportunity to be able to hear her voice. >> the uncle gave us video of jahi mcmath being transported to another hospital.

she is getting nutritional support and antibiotics to fight infections. >> the controversy of the los angeles sheriff took an unexpected action. he is resigning. he has been sheriff since 1998 and in the middle of a re-election campaign and facing intense criticism after an fbi investigation into corruption and abuse at the county jail. 18 of his deputies faced federal charges for inmate beating. baca was under fire for questionable hiring practices and will retire at the end of the month. still ahead, action from the senate this morning to extend the key benefit for long-term unemployed americans. will the plan fizzle in the house? >> west coast state named the most popular place to move to and it is not california. a look outside, sunny skies throughout the bay area, even if the other side of the country is in the deep freeze. from our san francisco camera, our meteorologist, mike nicco,

has the forec

j.p. morgan chase has agreed to pay $1.7 billion to victims of madoff's ponzi scheme. up job was the primary bank in the three years of the fraud that spanned decades. in 2008 madoff admitted to the f.b.i. he defrauded investors of $18 billion one of the largest financial frauds in united states history.

madoff is serving 150-year sentence. >> >> president obama is urging house republicans to take quick action to extend unemployment benefits to 1.3 million americans. the president says he doesn't know anyone who wants an implement check over a job but the fact is, a lot of people are out of work. the president made the remarks surrounded by unemployed americans this morning in washington, dc after the senate cheered a key hurdle. this morning they voted in favor of extending benefits for three months after benefits expired january 1. california's neighbor to the north, oregon, is attracting a good number of new residents. moving company united released the migration study this week and found that oregon with the number one destination for people moving from one state to another in 2013. washington, dc, previously held the top spot the last five years and the company says many of the new residents of oregon are former california fed up with the high cost of living but looking for mild winters and an

active lifestyle who don't mind a little more rain. >> how is oregon dealing with the rain? we need some. >> will we get it? mike has the answer. >> that is a great question. good morning from the top of the broadcast center, oregon and washington are getting all of the rain right now but the jet stream is start telling take a more normal pattern and push a couple of storms near us and bring us a couple of chances of rain in the seven-day forecast. the clean of talk v.i.p. company and who she has invited over for a secretive girl's get away. >> make good of getting rid of the unwanted pounds with the best diets that might

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covering daly city, dublin/pleasanton, los gatos and all the bay area, this is abc7 news. >> first lady is choosing to spend a few extra days under the hawaiian sun for her 50th birthday and is hang out with oprah, at her villa. a resident noticed lots of police cars and secret service agents and the first lady turns 50 on january 17 and will celebrate washington in washington, dc, and, by the way, opera is turning 62 days later. >> after this that, the first lady will post democratic fundraiser in san francisco on john 31 and will be joined by house minority leader pelosi which was originally scheduled

in october but was postponed because of the government shut down. >> we were talking about the fudge you gave me if christmas and now we going to talk about the new year's resolution ands thering weight. >> we love our chocolate. >> u.s. news and world report has the list of best diets. >> amy has the details. >> the most popular tim of the year to start a new date. which works best for you? this morning, u.s. news and world report is break down the best diets of 2014. we have the best diets overall, the best weight loss diet and the best for heart health or diabetes. mediterranean diet which focuses on lots of fruits, vegetables and fish and best of all, you can enjoy that glass of wine. you need to be more self conscious about the calorie us are consuming and your portions.

they do not measure it out. >> and best for weight loss is weight watchers which uses the point system and accident restrict any food group. >> weight watchers works like budgeting your money. they are going to base points off things that make you fuller longer. >> were toking the list for the fourth year in a row as the best overall diet is the dash diet including portion control and balancing will protein and carb. >> what the creator did is provide lots and lots of options. >> an, positive thing to keep in mind if you find a bump, stay motivated by being educated. >> that was amy robach reporting with the best list on our website under "see it on tv." another way is to exercise. if thing we have weather that is conducive to that, right, mikest. >> many stairs to get from here to the roof.

if i go to the motherland, the mediterranean diet, i could lose some weight. a trip to italy is in store...i would love to test that teary. kidding aside we have fine weather as far as the temperature and we are not being touched by the arctic plunge as the polar vortex collapsed enough to let give the cold weather in the east. the current wind chills are not so dangerous as necessity have been. it only feels like 29 in green bay and year it felt like 41 below. atlanta is up to ten. that is nice. it feels like one blow in boston and eight below in new york. over the last 24 hours, look at the warming that is taking place, the yellow, the orange, the red, stretching into the ohio river valley so the worst of the cold air is right new gripping the east coast but it is going to move on out and this morning was probably as cold as it is going to get. if you are headed to charlotte right new, the models are saying

rain, saturday. rain again on sunday. but after the game. it is timing whether it will be wet. i am keeping rain in the forecast still. but after having a low down in the single digits this morning, there will be highs in the mid-to-upper 50's by sunday. here is the live doppler 7 hd, a lot of cloud cover out there again, and no radar run. temperatures in the 50's but napa is behind at 48 and we are close to where we were yesterday, and we will end up in the same place with a little break in the cloud cover lick we are seeing right here in san jose, so, sunny pockets this afternoon, and some rain could fall from the clouds and evaporate and a couple of chances of rain through saturday and. wary than average can dry starting on sunday. temperatures today are in the upper 50's and low 60's look the coast into san francisco and the rest of us are in the low-to-mid 60's. tonight, the clouds keep a smile and there are a few grown spots with sprinkles possible overnight and mid-30's up north and the rest of us are in the low-to-mid 40's and san francisco is 48 degrees, and

notice the secret stream or the storms are pushing the area of high pressure away, we are seeing just a last high clouds coming in on the jet stream as it takes a zonal flow bringing in the weak systems, a series of them, and each is going to come further to the south. here is the one today, notice it is around oregon and northern california, and starting today, there is a chance of sprinkles again with the best chance of rain to the north. on thursday morning, look at that. all the way through 7:00, there is a chance of rain and snow up in the sierra but it will not be much. it will be less than .1" in most areas. it could cause trouble for the commute on thursday. that is something we will watch. we have a hard time, timing these things when they come in so weak and so quick. there you go, thursday. friday we get a break. saturday is another chance of rain in the north bay. sunday and monday, you can see the warmer weather coming back into the forecast so even without the sunshine, temperatures are running near normal if not just a little bit

above. enjoy it. back to you. >> god something to do on sunday? >> yes, the 49ers gay. send us your photos showing us your 49ers prize. we have a baby theme going on, this is a six-month-old sporting a helmet. >> and little levy is kaepernicking or kaeper-napping. just send it to ureport@kgo-tv.com so we can share them. we are taking on the panthers, of course, on sunday. we have the fan spirit. >> it will to come, meet the canadian couple would literally had cold feet before the weekend

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his controversial trip to north korea. >> if it were true, shaking your way to losing weight. the government crackdown against deceptive advertising to sell weight loss products. >> not even sub-zero temperatures can ruin the warmth originating from home. the heat stopped working at church where this couple was to tie the knot but the temperatures did not step the show in montreal. space heaters were moved in and guests were told to keep their jackets on and the pastor order hot chocolate. the bride had to wary a heavy coat.

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