right now on "america this morning," breaking news, a massive fire ripping through a fertilizer plant in north carolina overnight. emergency officials ee evacuating people in the, otjor er storm bearing down. pondcy frigid conditions on the way. major developments in the january 6th capitol riot investigation. records from the trump white house found ripped up. plus, the new reporting on efforts after the 2020 election to seize voting machines. should cities and states begin lifting mask mandates as covid cases drop? the new push this morning. word of a big sale. the popular online game wordle which had only dozens of players a few months ago is sold. how much money its creator now

stands to pocket. and all about the bling. the cincinnati quarterback preparing for his first super bowl comes clean about his swag. good tuesday morning, everyone. i'm mona kosar abdi. >> i'm andrea fujii. andrew is off. we begin with breaking news from north carolina where authorities are watching a massive fire at a fertilizer plant. >> concerns about a possible explosion have forced authorities to urge everyone to evacuate a one-mile radius around the plant in winston, salem, about 6,500 residents, firefighters battled the flames for more than an hour but pulled back because of the large amount of explosive material at the plant. >> they say the facility could contain three times more ammonium nitrate than was stored at a fertilizer plant in texas which exploded in

2013 killing 15 people. >> there's somewhere between 300 and 600 tons of ammonium nitrate in this facility. the entire building has become consumed by fire and has collapsed in. we need folks within a one-mile radius of this facility at 4440 north cherry street to evacuate and to be prepared to remain evacuated for 48 hours. >> reporter: the evacuation zone includes a prison and parts of wake forest university. no injuries reported. we'll bring you more information as it becomes available. the other big story a new push to lift mask requirements and other pandemic restrictions. covid cases have dropped more than 30% in the last two weeks and now more politicians have been caught not following their own rules. this morning, authorities across the country are under growing pressure to lift covid-related restrictions. >> at a certain point you just have to start living like things are normal. >> reporter: in massachusetts,

the secretaries of education and health are now calling for policies at colleges and universities to be changed to focus restrictions only on people who test positive or are at serious risk saying with virtually all students and staff vaccinated, higher education has the opportunity to lead transitioning back to near normal. >> we have to be having the conversations today because the changes won't happen overnight. >> reporter: it comes with only five states reporting a significant increase in covid cases. infections in children have also dropped for the first time since thanksgiving, down by nearly one-third. and younger children could be eligible for the vaccine sooner than expected. "the washington post" reports pfizer could submit data on its shot for children under 5 as soon as today making authorization for that age group possible by the end of the month. >> children are less likely to get hospitalized and die but we still see a lot of kids who get acutely ill. >> reporter: meanwhile, in california, a new call to end

mask mandates one day after governor gavin newsom and los angeles mayor eric garcetti were pictured maskless at the rams game sunday. the l.a. county supervisor now saying, let's do away with blanket covid-19 masking policies. they don't make a difference when they're not consistently followed or enforced. >> will you take responsibility, prime minister? >> reporter: controversy over restrictions also erupting in england where a new government report faults prime minister boris johnson for failure of leadership for hosting parties during lockdown and in canada, what started as a cnvoy of truckers protesting vaccine mandates has grown into a movement. thousands of people rallying against restrictions. canadian prime minister justin trudeau called the protesters' behavior disgusting monday, the same day he announced he himself tested positive for covid. the entire federal prison system, more than 120 facilities, was on lockdown overnight after two inmates were

killed in texas. officials say the victims died after a fight reportedly gang related at a facility in beaumont, texas, the latest for the federal prison system which has struggled with staffing shortages and a series of inmate escapes and deaths. a california firefighter has been shot and killed on the job. max fortuna was helping fight a dumpster fire in stockton when he was hit by gunfire. a 67-year-old man is in custody. the suspect's father said he may have opened fire thinking someone was breaking into the building. several new developments this morning in the january 6th riot investigation. records from the trump white house have now been turned over to investigators, and it seems many of them had been ripped up. this morning, abc news confirms some documents from the trump white house turned over to the committee investigating the january 6th attack were torn up and had to be taped back together. politico first reported in 2018 that aides were often forced to tape up shredded documents due to trump's habit of ripping up white house records.

a statement from the national archives seems to confirm that report saying documents sent to the committee, quote, included paper records that had been torn up by former president trump. it comes as another person close to the trump administration cooperates with the january 6th investigation. former vice president mike pence's chief of staff mark short has now testified before the committee. the news coming just hours after former president trump admitted he wanted pence to, quote, overturn the election on january 6th by throwing out some electoral votes. >> that's clearly not what the constitution provides for. he must be kidding. >> rorray ex over the weekend, trump also suggested he would pardon the january 6th rioters if he were back in the white house. >> if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly. >> reporter: republican congresswoman liz cheney responding, tweeting, quote, trump uses language he knows caused the january 6th violence

suggesting he'd pardon the january 6th defendants and admits he was attempting to overturn the election. he'd do it again if given the chance. and this morning, "the new york times" reports trump was more directly involved than previously known in plans to seize voting machines after the election. the plans were conceived by his advisers to get the justice department and other agencies to seize the machines to look for fraud. at the rally in texas trump called the prosecutors investigating him radical and racist. a district attorney in georgia is now asking the fbi for extra security. now to the standoff with russia over ukraine. a crucial phone call is scheduled between the u.s. secretary of state and his russian counterpart. meanwhile, the pentagon is now discussing more troop deployments in europe. abc's faith abubey is here now with the latest. faith, good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, andrea. u.s. officials say the call today between secretary of state antony blinken and his russian counterpart is part of the next step in this push for diplomacy. this morning, a new order from

the u.s. state department urging families of american diplomats in belarus to leave while they can. u.s. intelligence officials say they have evidence russia is planning to move in more than 30,000 troops into ukraine's northern neighbor as part of its continued military aggression towards kyiv. >> the situation we're facing in europe is urgent and dangerous. >> reporter: russia has already amassed more than 100,000 troops and heavy military equipment at ukraine's doorstep. a a heated u.n. security council meeting yesterday, u.s. ambassador to the u.n. linda thomas-greenfield blaming russia for disturbing the peace in the region. >> this is the largest -- hear me clearly -- mobilization of troops in europe in decades. and as we speak, russia is sending even more forces and arms to join them. >> reporter: russia's u.n. ambassador brushing off the international concerns accusing the u.s. of whipping up tensions and provoking escalation. >> translator: you are almost

calling for this. you want it. you're waiting for it to happen. >> reporter: the crucial u.n. security council meeting ending with no breakthroughs but with the u.s. vowing to continue pushing for diplomacy and dialogue. later today secretary of state antony blinken is scheduled to speak with his russian counterpart in a high-stakes phone call about the crisis. the u.s. state department also confirming it has received a written response from russia as negotiations continue. meantime, the pentagon says the u.s. is in active discussions with a number of allies about sending troops to eastern europe if talks ultimately fail. >> we are ready no matter what happens. >> reporter: and also new this morning, ukrainian officials say they have detained two people with possible ties to russia for attempting to destabilize the country. they were allegedly part of an estimated 5,000 people who are reportedly plotting mass riots. andrea. >> faith, thank you. another major winter storm is taking aim at millions of americans.

more than a foot of snow is possible in the midwest before it moves east, so let's take a look at your forecast. >> good morning. it's going to be a stormy week across the lower 48. we've got gulf moisture meeting up with arctic air. no good things happen ever in the wintertime when that happens. we've got snow in denver breaking out late tuesday with ice in dallas by wednesday into thursday. this storm will spread east with snow and ice affecting millions of folks from the southern plains to new england. the ice threat from dallas all the way to the eastern great lakes, major travel delays and power outages with possibly a foot of snow in chicago. i'm accuweather meteorologist kevin coskren. coming up, why gas prices are going up again. also ahead, the problem that's prompted domino's pizza to pay customers to pick up their own pie. and later the online word game wordle is sold, and the guy who invented it just cashed in big time.

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a bus has now been lifted from the wreckage of the bridge that collapsed in pittsburgh friday injuring ten people. the bridge was rated poor when it was inspected back in september but officials say it was not bad enough to close. gas prices are rising for the fifth consecutive week.anal prices in more than seven years are to blame. they expect prices to rise even more when the weather warms up. a big change at domino's. the company is now paying customers to pick up their own pizza. abc's rhiannon ally explains. >> reporter: this morning, fast food companies are scrambling to plug leaking profits fueled by the pandemic and rising costs. >> we have this perfect storm right now where not only are

fewer workers available because of the omicron variant, because americans are sick or quarantining, there are also higher demand for these goods and services. >> domino's short on delivery drivers has launched a new promotion less than two weeks before the super bowl. >> it takes skill to get that pizza from our store to your door. >> reporter: pick up your own pizza, and get $3 back to be applied to another carry out order. >> i don't think that this is a universal solution but a creative one that domino's is trying to get around the labor shortage. >> reporter: restaurant prices climbed 6% last year. the biggest increase in nearly four decades. rising labor costs, materials and inflation have forced them to think outside the pizza box for ways to make up those costs. >> overall customers are wary about these price increases. >> reporter: it's not just domino's. mcdonald's and burger king have paired down their popular value menus to try to boost profits.

customers are taking notice. before announcing the pick up your own pizza promotion, domino's shrank the size of its chicken wing order. now you get eight wings instead of ten for the same price. >> we are going to continue to see employers and businesses try to get creative in terms of managing the shortage of workers without passing on costs to consumers. >> reporter: analysts say, some of these changes will likely be short life lived, but the labor shortages will likely stick around for awhile. mona, andrea. >> thanks, rhiannon. coming up, the longest lightning strike ever recorded in the u.s. also ahead, tom brady opens up. is he retiring or not? [♪] cooking and eating at home more often means food odors get trapped in your home's fabrics and released back into the air so you smell last night's dinner the next morning. for an easy way to keep your whole home smelling fresh try febreze fabric refresher. febreze's water-based formula deeply penetrates fabrics to eliminate trapped food odors as it dries.

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back now with a new record for mother nature. scientists at noaa have confirmed the longest lightning flash on record for horizontal distance. it was 477 miles long. it was back in 2020, and it stretched from the central texas coast to louisiana. the fbi is investigating bomb threats that forced at least six historically black colleges and universities to close or enter lockdown. threats were called into howard, bowie state and southern university among others. one caller claimed to be from a neo-nazi group. seven other schools were targeted last month. no explosives were found. we turn now to tom brady. he's finally addressing reports about his imminent retirement, and he's saying, not so fast. this morning, tom brady speaking

out for the first time since sources told espn over the weekend that the seven-time super bowl champion would retire from the nfl. >> for me i'm just still going through the process that i said i was going through, so sometimes it takes some time to really evaluate how you feel and what you want to do, and i think when the time is right, i'll be ready to make a decision one way or another just like i said last week. >> reporter: on saturday espn reported sources said brady knew the previous weekend's playoff game in tampa would likely be his last, but brady appearing on his "let's go" podcast late monday said the report was remature and said he's not rushing to make the decision. >> i think i said i'll take it day by day. i'll take it by the moments and figure out when i feel really confident to allow people to, you know, who understand my decision affects a lot of people's lives, so when that decision comes, it'll come. >> reporter: asked if he was surprised about the media report, the future hall of famer said, it comes with the territory.

>> we're in such an era of, you know, information and, you know, people want to be, you know, in front of the news often, and i totally understand that and understand that's the environment we're in, but i think for me i'm just literally it's day to day with me. i'm just kind of doing the best i can every day and make -- evaluate things as they come and, you know, trying to make a great decision for me and my family. >> reporter: brady said the focus should not be on him but instead on the upcoming super bowl. coming up, a decision to close schools on the monday after the super bowl. but first a fashionable change at dolce & gabbana. but will others follow suit? ♪ i'm getting vaccinated with prevnar 20. so am i. because i'm at risk for pneumococcal pneumonia. i'm asking about prevnar 20. because there's a chance pneumococcal pneumonia could put me in the hospital. if you're 65 or older you may be at increased risk for pneumococcal pneumonia. prevnar 20 is approved in adults

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hitting a whole new level. "new york times" is buying the popular online word game. wordle had just 90 players in november, now it has millions. created by new york software engineer who is cashing in. >> sure is. newspaper is paying in low seven figures to buy it, part of plan to reach 10 million digital subscribers. teenager who spends time tracking elon musk's private jet is willing to stop for a price. >> more than musk is offering to play. the elon jet tracker sends out a tweet every time the billionaire's plane takes off or lands. 180,000 followers on twitter. and musk offered money to stop but he wants 50 grand. i think he can afford it. real fur is thing of the

past at dolce and gabbana. >> switching to faux fur to attract younger customers. >> others have already made similar moves. >> but shouldn't charge the same price. school officials jinxing the bengals ahead of the super bowl? >> closed the public schools the monday after the game. to celebrate their victory. >> make it a national holiday. bengals quarterback, jb9 diamond necklace is getting attention. asked if it was real, said i make too much money to wear fake ones. okay flex. it's time to talk about "bruno". >> the song from "encanto" has a milestone. milestone. ♪

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have large trees in their yards, it is scary. reggie: a high wind advisory and warning across -- affects parts of the bay area. we are watching the elevated fire danger and spots that could see wind damage. kumasi: a massive fire forced thousands out of their homes. the concern about what is in the building. reggie: a big development to get the push for young children under five to get vaccinated. when vaccines might start rolling out. kumasi: an alert for writers this morning, the warning about long lines and delays. good morning, tuesday, february 1. reggie: that means the rent is due. drew: oh my gosh. melanie: have you paid? reggie: i have not. drew: i always look at his tweets and say oh my gosh, scrambling. reggie: it is what i am mostly good for. kumasi: thank you. drew: