>> that's true. >> that's what's making news this morning in america. "gma" is next. making news in america this morning, crippling conditions, frigid air, wind and a lot of snow. another round of brutal winter on its way. the black widow. who is the woman investigators are desperately trying to track down before the winter games get under way in russia? taking its toll, have you been awake and working since yesterday? what it's really doing to your body. and wave riders. a pod of dolphins appear at the right time amazing a crowd and stealing the show from some surfers. good tuesday morning. i'm marci gonzalez in for diana perez. >> and i'm john muller. a massive winter storm and a

dramatic change to colder weather bearing down on the eastern seaboard. >> now, take a look at the satellite. the storm is already dumping snow on the ohio valley, and behind it, arctic air will bring single-digit temperatures. our coverage begins with abc's mary bruce. >> reporter: here we go again. much of the u.s. bracing for the return of frigid arctic conditions. remember this? just two weeks ago the country was paralyzed by a deep freeze. cars in pennsylvania frozen to the ground, fountains in the deep south turned into ice sculptures, rivers transformed into glaciers. well, it's back. a new polar plunge is expected to spread subzero temperatures from the midwest to the northeast. 11 states under advisories waking up to bitter cold and bone-chilling winds. in chicago where we saw the cold air rush in when this man opened his window, today areas around the windy city expecting as much

as 2 inches of snow an hour. it will feel like 22 degrees below zero, and it's heading east. crews in virginia are working around the clock to prepare spraying roads to keep the ice and snow from sticking. these plows on long island stand at the ready. >> if the storm stays on track, it's perfectly timed to disrupt the evening commute home. >> i hope it's not going to get too bad before i get home. >> reporter: here in washington, d.c., we could see the biggest snowstorm we've had since 2011 when about 5 inches of snow fell. in anticipation the federal government has already announced it will be closed for the day. john and marci. >> all right, mary bruce live in washington, thanks so much. nearly a dozen states are facing brutal windchills this morning, and with all that snow, more than 1800 flights have already been canceled. accuweather meteorologist jim dickey is tracking it all for us. good morning, jim. >> good morning, john and marci. seeing snowfall in spots in the morning.

this is a developing storm system. the snow already spreading out of chicago here should be gone by the time you head out the door this morning. but the issues only beginning for the mid-atlantic. for portions of the northeast, the storm will intensify as we head through the day into the overnight and moves offshore bringing heavy snowfall for many. we'll see as much as 6 to 12 inches in the mountains of west virginia and southern new jersey and delaware up towards long island as much as a foot of snow. john and marci, back to you. >> all right, thanks, jim. moving on to a breaking story overnight, a university outside of philadelphia on lockdown. police told everyone at widener university to stay inside while they investigated an on-campus shooting. a student was hurt near the school's athletic center last night in what officials are saying was not a random act of violence. that student was operated on and remains in stable but critical condition. classes will take place there this morning. recovery crews return today to the nebraska plant where two workers were killed in an explosion.

the blast sent the plant's second and third stories crashing down to the first floor. firefighters were able to rescue five men initially including one that had been cut out of the debris. this worker managed to get out on his own. >> i just heard a crack, pop and big ball of fire, and i was in the back, and i just took off running as soon as i heard the first crack. >> osha will ultimately determine the cause of the explosion, but officials say there were no chemicals that were stored at that plant. now to growing concerns about security at the olympics. the pentagon has revealed a contingency plan in case americans need to be evacuated from the games. the navy will have two ships stationed in the black sea just in case. there's already been one apparent security breach. a woman the russians call a black widow, who may be planning a suicide attack. here's abc's brian ross. >> reporter: authorities believe the young woman arrived in the sochi area about a week ago, somehow making it past the ring of security set up to protect the olympic games. over the weekend, police distributed this wanted poster

to hotels and at the airport for a so-called black widow terrorist. she was identified as 22-year-old ruzanna ibragimova of dagestan whose husband was killed in a shootout with police last year, and security experts say she is not likely to be traveling alone. >> when it's women, they tend to operate in teams of two, and it's very unlikely that they would just send one of these teams into sochi. >> reporter: some 80,000 security personnel have been sent to sochi to create what russian president putin calls "a ring of steel" about 60 miles long and 25 miles wide. putin told george stephanopoulos that will keep the winter games safe. >> translator: we will do whatever it takes. >> reporter: the pentagon says it has developed contingency plans in case it needs to get americans out of sochi in a hurry in case of an attack including aircraft on standby and two u.s. navy ships in the black sea on an already scheduled deployment. brian ross, abc news, new york. in south africa, paralympic star oscar pistorius is

reportedly trying to work out a settlement with his late girlfriend's parents allegedly poised to pay them up to $275,000. pistorius claims he fatally shot reeva steenkamp thinking she was an intruder, but prosecutors say it was premeditated. a settlement could avoid a potential civil suit even before his criminal trial, which is set to begin in march. it is back to school this morning for thousands of students in west virginia who have been off since the state's water crisis. the students are being told not to drink the water from the fountains because the water still smells like licorice. thousands of gallons of chemicals contaminated that water nearly two weeks ago. cafeteria staff has been told to avoid the use of it in food preparation until friday. and now new worries this morning about the air we breathe. >> researchers have found that dirty air from chinese export factories makes its way to the u.s. they say pollution from china has made the air quality worse particularly on the west coast. black carbon linked to a host of diseases is a particular problem because rain doesn't wash it away. all right.

time now for the weather across the nation. we already told you about that polar plunge bringing arctic air and heavy snow to the midwest and northeast. it will also be colder in the south from the tennessee valley into georgia, and it will be dry for much of the west. dense fog in the pacific northwest and northern rockies. fire danger remaining high in the southwest. 80s in southern california. 40s from seattle to billings. single digits for parts of the upper midwest. all right, getting the boot. the nfl is considering a change to its scoring system eliminating one of the oldest parts of the game. and on the defense, the second in command to governor chris christie firing back after a mayor accused her of strong-arm tactics. she's telling a much different side of the story. plus, surgery of the future. how a doctor helps in an operation thousands of miles away.

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welcome back. financial markets re-opening this morning after having monday off for the martin luther king jr. holiday. traders will have a handful of earnings reports to sort through in hopes of some positive indications about the economy. so far stocks have had a lackluster start to the year. overstock.com predicting another major retailer will follow its lead by accepting bitcoins and online currency. the head of overstock says other companies will lose market share if they reject the digital money. he claims overstock almost immediately grossed over $100,000 in bitcoins when it started accepting it less than two weeks ago. a new shot fired into greek yogurt wars. in one new ad yoplait goes head

to head with best seller chobani claiming its product tastes better. and dannon is launching a new ad during the super bowl. greek yogurt accounts for almost half of the $7.6 billion in overall yearly yogurt sales. superstitious investors will likely be rooting for the seahawks over the broncos next month. that's because stocks tend to go up when the nfc team beats the afc team in the super bowl. who knew? that so-called super bowl indicator has been accurate about 80% of the time. >> what a strange stat that is, right? >> yeah. all right, finally, how about some beer and maybe some girl scout cookies? >> i like both. >> that's a combination a cafe near philadelphia will be serving up tomorrow afternoon. >> one combination, caramel delights and a lancaster double chocolate milk stout. hmm. there will be three other combinations at the 320 market cafe in media, pennsylvania. the owner there calls them the ultimate afternoon treat. >> yeah, i heard the idea, and it sounded bad, then i'm looking at the picture and i'm going,

okay, i'm down. bring me a little sample. >> not bad at all. all right, when we come back, stealing the show. dolphins crash a surfing competition making for an unbelievable moment. and it was the interview that quickly overshadowed the seahawks' big win. what is richard sherman saying about his postgame rant now? [ female announcer ] who says you can't be healthy... and happy?

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washington, d.c., philly, new york city and boston. back to the news and it is a big day for new jersey governor chris christie. he is being inaugurated for his second term today but instead of celebrating, christie's camp is pushing back against the accusations from the mayor of hoboken, new jersey. >> she says superstorm sandy relief funds were tied to a real estate venture that christie supported. yesterday's new jersey's lieutenant governor called that illogical. >> any suggestion that sandy funds were tied to the approval of any project in new jersey is completely false. >> hoboken's mayor dawn zimmer says she has documents that will prove her accusations. now to some cutting-edge technology in the operating room thanks to google. doctors in the u.s. and central america teamed up to perform the first international surgery with google glass, the high-tech eyewear. dr. raj vyas was in birmingham, alabama, but he directed

a surgeon in el salvador who was operating on a boy with a cleft lip. he says using it is just the beginning. >> it's going to make sense for outside the medical world too. any time there needs to be a repair or a fix or if you want to be able to work hands-free on a project and maybe you have engineers remotely that need to assist, this is a way that it can be done. >> the google glass device allows a person to see exactly what another person many miles away is seeing. they can talk to each other with an audio connection through a laptop. >> that is great, isn't it? >> uh-huh. all right. a new study getting our attention for sure working on this shift. >> oh, yeah. >> the headline, night work throws a body into chaos. >> yeah, imagine that. well, some british researchers say their study proves that night shift work is linked to higher rates of type 2 diabetes, heart attacks and cancer. >> a study says the human body has a natural rhythm that's tuned to sleeping at night, and working the night shift can actually change everything from hormones as well as body

temperature to athletic ability and mood. say it's all because of this. well. >> exactly. >> my athletic ability. there's a segue. >> there you go. blame everything on the shift. by now you've seen at least part of that rant that is getting richard sherman all kinds of unwanted attention. >> well, i'm the best corner in the game. when you try me with a sorry receiver like crabtree, that's the result you're going to get. don't you ever talk about me. >> yeah, sherman went off on sunday night after his seahawks defeated the 49ers earning a spot in the super bowl. well, his comments targeted san francisco receiver michael crabtree, who sherman deflected a pass away from in the game-winning game. well, now sherman is apologizing kind of, sort of. >> obviously i could worded things better and, you know, could have had a better reaction and done things differently but it is what it is now and people's reactions are what they are. >> sherman says he's had issues

with crabtree since an off-season incident. seattle coach pete carroll spoke to sherman about it all yesterday telling him his actions were overshadowing the team's success. >> no kidding. major faux pas. meantime, there is word that the nfl is considering doing away with extra points after touchdowns. >> league commissioner roger goodell confirms several proposals to revise scoring following touchdowns are being considered. but there's no time line for any possible change. all right, now some hoops highlights. and we get those from the guys at espn. good morning, america. this is the "sportscenter" set in los angeles. he's stan, i'm neil, and we've got a couple of basketball games to show you. >> yeah, the pacers have been great at home. they have the nba's best record at home and the nba's best record overall, but how do they do on the road against the warriors? well, let's see. george hill, shot clock winding down, puts the pacers up seven. that was a huge shot. under 30 seconds to play, pacers up 4. warriors come up with a steal. klay thompson to steph curry.

ball fake is held up in the air, gets the look. won't go. pacers go on to win it, 102-94. 23 points for george. are you familiar with creighton? because if you're not, you should be. that's the coach, greg mcdermott. his son plays on the team. his name is doug mcdermott. that's him shooting the three, which is a perfect number for him. by the way, they're playing at fourth ranked villanova, and jay wright is having bad dreams because young mcdermott, ethan roddy and the rest of the creighton club -- i mean, they made 21 threes. creighton, 96-68. >> wow. >> yeah. >> they were in the zone. >> yeah, i've never been in the zone. >> i have. >> really? >> yeah, but mostly on television, you know. >> i'm still waiting. >> back to you. >> all right, thanks, guys. some unexpected star power at a surfing competition in california, and that makes this our "play of the day."

>> all eyes on the talented surfers hanging ten at the annual competition in santa barbara, but check it out a pod of dolphins steals the show. >> showing them how it's done. >> you don't want to compete against the dolphins. they've got the advantage. up next "the pulse," everybody. mother monster is about to hit a new market. a ban on lady gaga has finally been lifted. and internet magic. one guy's clever editing is just mind bending. mine was earned in korea in 1953. afghanistan, in 2009. orbiting the moon in 1971. [ male announcer ] once it's earned, usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection. and because usaa's commitment to serve current and former military members and their families is without equal. begin your legacy. get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve.

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way for her latest album "artpop" to go on sale at the end of the month but chinese sensors are doing a little creative editing first. >> they're hiding some of gaga's nakedness and her bare legs will be covered by black tights, and the song "sex dreams" will be changed to "x dreams." fashion forward, a new look at male leggings called meggings. i'm wearing them right as a matter of fact were named the worst fashion trend in 2012 but they refuse to die. new a new fashion label hopes to take the trend mainstream. they've come out with a whole new line in a range of styles that cost about 30 bucks and they would look great on you, john. >> you can get a lot of ribbing. >> that is stylish. >> i'm wearing my meggings no matter what. >> all right. well, this pretty amazing stuff is all the work of an l.a.-based filmmaker named zach king. watch closely. >> king has been using an app

which allows people to create vine videos. here's some of the best examples of those videos. >> but be careful. he says what he's doing is not magic. that's because he's not actually doing what it appears like he's doing in his short videos. incredible and cool to watch, however, he's doing it. who knows. >> pretty cool. all right, finally a day to show your intimacy today. it's national hug day. >> here are some memorable hugs. this picture of the president and first lady became the most retweeted and most liked post on facebook. it was taken after the president's re-election. >> all right, this picture of another president still ranking as one of the most memorable hugs. bill and monica lewinsky. oh, boy, that's a doozy. hugging right there at a fund-raiser that surfaced back in the late '90s shortly after their scandal broke. >> a telling hug right there. and then there is this from a movie quickly becoming a christmas classic. >> does someone need a hug? aaagh! >> all right.

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.... with our meteorologist, mike nicco. >> i am trying to find out where the record highs will be. if looks could kill right now, half moon bay has a little bit of fog and you can see the clouds developing along the coast on live doppler 7 hd. visibility is pretty much unlimited elsewhere. now, what will happen today, we had record highs year, and look at the roof camera starting off clear, in the 30's and 40's and on the way to 60's and 70's with record highs possible. the coast is 61 to 68 and the

rest of us are 68 to 72 degree. now traffic with leyla gulen. >> we will talk about it. if you are getting on to the roads and headed in the eastbound direction on 580 between livermore avenue and vasco road we have a project until 6:00 this morning, with the lanes blocked there, and, in fact, can you see there is slowing if you are making it in the eastbound direction. most of the traffic in the morning goes west, and it was quiet yesterday, but afraid it will change today. 580 from tracy to castro valley at 30 minutes and 280 northbound from highway 1 to san francisco is 11 minutes through daly city. eric and kristen? >> it is 4:29. we are following breaking news from oakland where authorities are investigating an incident which an officer opened fire on a suspect. the california highway patrol tells us an officer opened fire near east 15th street and 57th avenue at 3:00 this

morning. that followed a short chase on city streets that reached speeds of 50 miles per hour. no officers were injured. we do not know if the suspect was shot. we will bring you more information as we get it throughout the morning. >> developing news, caltrain is running normally again through santa clara after a train hit two pedestrians last night killing one of them. matt keller is at the santa clara station with the latest. matt? >> kristen, a disturbing incident took place here in santa clara. two men were hit by a train as other people were standing near on the platform. it happened at 5:45 last note. caltrain says bet men were on the platform and it unclear how and why they ended up on the tracks. the train that hit them was an express that was not scheduled to stop here near santa clara university. it was traveling up to 50 miles per hour. >> the caltrain came by and in was an inbound sound a