captions paid for by nbc-universal television from nbc news world headquarters in new york, this is "nightly news" with lester holt. a winterlike blast powered eastward today with more snow and high winds closing roads and crippling flight schedules out of chicago's busy airport. the snow is so heavy it collapsed the inflatable roof at the minneapolis metrodome forcing today's nfl game there to be relocated. tonight blizzard and winter storm warnings stretch from part was wisconsin to western pennsylvania. while the storm has brought

heavy rain here along the east coast, with a big cold snap right on its heels. michelle franzen begins our coverage. >> reporter: at daybreak in minneapolis, the digging out began to clear sidewalks and cars buried beneath a record 20 inches of snow. >> it's the worst i've seen in a couple of years. that's for sure. >> digging people out, get home, watch football. >> reporter: there would be no sunday football at the minneapolis metrodome. the vikings and new york giants game canceled and moved to detroit after the weight of this massive snowstorm caused the inflatable roof to collapse. the weather channel's scott williams got a look inside. >> typical temperatures inside the metrodome in minneapolis are 635 to 68 degrees, but it doesn't feel that way today. it feels more like it's in the single digits all because of a one-two punch from mother nature of damaging winds and heavy snow. it has caused the largest tear

since the stadium was built. >> reporter: the storm and blizzard warnings made driving treacherous and closed roads and grounded flights in several states. in chicago more than 1,000 flights were canceled, but it wasn't just the snow that caused problems. on lake michigan wind-driven waves pounded the shore, and residents had to bear with bitter cold temperatures. >> trying to get through it, but the wind is just the worst part. it's not snowing that hard. it's just the blowing snow really hits you in the face hard. >> reporter: this rapid-moving storm has its grip on the entire eastern third of the country in form of snow in indiana and ohio and heavy wind and rain as it moves east. meanwhile, in the pacific northwest a different storm. snow melt and heavy rain caused flooding and mudslides in washington state and affected amtrak service between seattle and portland. >> seattle has five inches of rainfall and will see more before the week is said and

done. >> reporter: winter's wrath leaving its mark in every way. michelle franzen, nbc news, new york. >> mike sidle from the weather channel is braving the snow outside cleveland tonight to tell us what comes next. mike, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, lester. it's more of this cold air and snow. in cleveland we have a brief break from the frigid december and snowy december this weekend, it hit 40. so far this month temperatures are below average. they'll be lucky to get in the 20s for the next few days. more snow coming down. there's the storm that caused the big snowfall in minneapolis. that's throwing down a lot of cold air and headed back to florida. look out on tuesday and wednesday morning in the sunshine state. another freeze. here, though, it means more snowfall for areas that had as much as 6 feet of snow in the december. cold air over relatively warmer lakes, and the forecast is more snow. we're going to measure it in feet in some areas, especially

with heavy bands between erie and buffalo and cleveland. 10 or 15 more inches in buffalo. in syracuse where they had four feet of snow last week, you get a break. this time around only about 6 to 10 inches. one group that's making the money, the private snowplow contractors. they're making money, but they won't be getting much sleep between now and wednesday. lester. >> mike seidel, thank you. they're late world about foul weather causing havoc in the eastern mediterranean where brilliance of seas is feeling the rath of the sea tossed by storms that turned a vacation into a nightmare for all aboard, including 1600 americans. we're following the story from london. >> lester, a dream vacation turned into a nightmare for the passengers aboard royal caribbean brilliance of seas. the cruise ship got into real

trouble when it hit bad weather off the coast of egypt. these photos taken by passengers show a shipwrecked after getting caught in the storm. the high winds and heavy rains in the mediterranean are terrifying on land. at sea it must have felt worse. we spoke by phone to passengers on board. >> we thought it was the end of the world for us. everything was flying. the bed and night tables were flying. >> then the boat pitched back and threw everybody backwards. the whole boat screaming. anybody that was on their bed was riding back and forth being smashed into walls. >> there's a lot of injuries, you know. there's a lot of mad people. >> reporter: the cruise line now faces its biggest challenge, keeping its passengers safe. cruise ships caught out at sea can get into serious trouble. this ship battled the waves last week in the antarctic. in march the lewis majesty was

struck by a 26-foot wave off the coast of spain, and a fire knocked out major systems on splendor last month. toenl royal caribbean says, quote, the ship has full power and sailing as normal. they do not have any food shortages on board. all power and toilets are working normally. no one has been seriously injured. brilliance of the seas is due a dare earlier than expected. for the passengers it won't be a moment too soon. the passengers have described their ordeal as terrifying. some of have cut their feet on broken glass, others have been badly bruised by furniture that's been sliding back and forth. many have received medical treatment on board. lester. >> thank you. let's turn to washington, and we're coming up on six weeks since the midterm elections dramatically transformed the political landscape. exhibit a, the president's deal with republicans over tax cuts and so much more, and his

all-out effort to win over reluctant and angry democrats. how is the president doing? our chief white house correspondent and political director chuck todd is at the white house tonight. chuck. >> reporter: today was perhaps the last day upset democrats had to talk to the white house and other members of their own party out of the tax cut compromise and talk they did. rhetoric aside, this compromise appears poised to clear a big hurdle tomorrow in the u.s. senate. >> this is a good bill. >> reporter: after a week of pulling out all the stops to sell the tax cut deal to he reluctant house democrats, the white house is confident the deal will pass. >> every economist from right to left has said this would mean a big boost for the economy, and so i believe that ultimately people will come together around this plan. >> reporter: even top house democrats are reluctantly signalling support. >> we're not going to hold this up at the end of the day. most of us agree with almost all of what the president

negotiated. tlz one thing that just was the choking point, and that deals with the estate tax break. >> reporter: assuming no major changes are made, the framework of the plan that will likely pass the senate this week includes full extension of the bush era tax rates for two more years, a 13-month extension of unemployment benefits and a 2 percentage point cut in the payroll tax for one year giving the average family of four 20 to $30 a week in the pay economchp. some house democrats are still upset that haven't given up hope to push through some change to the agreement. >> it's disappointing there was no consultation. i think the house was taken for granted. >> we're doing our job in congress. we're going to change this, and hopefully the president will back us up as we take out the worst things in it. >> reporter: the white house argues they're still against the tax cuts for the wealthy and keep fighting the republicans, justi just not now?

>> 2012 they have to stand up and defend on their own merits that they think these high income tax cuts work, and they won't be able to do that, because they don't. >> reporter: here's the schedule. tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. the senate is going to hold what it calls a vote, that puts an end to any potential filibuster and clears the way for the bill to pass the senate. then the rest of this week is going to be very busy. you have that nuclear arms treaty called s.t.a.r.t. that could be taken up at the end of the week by the senate. there's the big afghanistan review. we'll hear from the president about that toward the end of the week. >> it was only a few weeks ago that they agreed to the 2014 deadline to transfer control to afghan troops. what more is he expected to say? >> reporter: not a lot. i talked to a couple of folks involved in the review process. the deal with nato moved any deadline from 2011 to 2014. that was the review. this will talk about whether it is a do-able deadline, whether

there are some troops they can pull out in july of 2011. they may pull some out. that may be symbolic more than having a lot of troops come out. for the most part, the combat operation will not end, lester, until the end of 2014. >> chuck todd, thanks. we got a grim reminder how hard and costly this war is to americans. a deadly day in afghanistan. six u.s. soldiers were killed when a suicide bomber drove a van packed with explosives into a building out an outpost in the south. more on this now in kabul. good evening. >> reporter: good evening, lester. well, according to the "new york times" the six nato service members killed in the south were actually americans in the southern district of kandahar province. according to the journalists to made it out to the bloody aftermath of a deadly scene. thelsd a my nye bus packed with

explosives rammed into their joint u.s./afghan posts. according to the photographs that were taken at the scene, you can tell that there was a mud building that was housing some of these soldiers. soldiers who said they were getting ready to actually go out on a morning patrol. the taliban have claimed responsibility in a phone call to the associated press, the spokesperson said this was retaliation against the nato service members who have been attacking his fighters for the last several months. kandahar has been the focal point for the war in afghanistan in 2010. many service members have lost their lives there, but we should note that although the violence continues, lester, it is much less than what we saw this past summer where we saw a deadly raging battle day after day. >> thank you. veteran diplomat richard holbrooke remains in critical condition in a washington hospital after 20 hours of emergency surgery to repair a

torn artery leading from his heart. latest word is he is stable. holbrooke is special envoy to pakistan and afghanistan for president obama who called him a towering figure in american foreign policy. holbrooke is 69 years old. mayor broomberg put to rest the speculation about his presidential aspirations. in appearance on "meet the press" bloomberg sounded unequivocal. >> i don't know. i've got a great job, and i'm going to finish out by 1100 days left to go, and i'll leave the politics to the experts. >> if i came to us and said, mr. mayor, we've taken a hard look at this. we think this would not be a vanity play. you could actually win this thing, would you change your ni mind? >> no. >> new york mayor michael bloomberg this morning on "meet the press." when "nbc nightly news" continues this sunday night, what turned bernie madoff's son

to his own life? later marijuana goes main treem. entrepreneurs smell an opportunity as business goes to pot. what won't they do to get the part? how some movie stars give new meaning to the phrase body of work. if you live for performance, upgrade to castrol edge advanced synthetic oil. with eight times better wear protection than mobil 1. castrol edge. it's more than just oil. it's liquid engineering. try zegerid otc. it's the first 24-hour treatment with two active ingredients: prescription-strength medicine plus a protective ingredient so it's effectively absorbed. for 24-hour relief, try dual-ingredient zegerid otc.

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>> reporter: in happier times mark madoff was an avid fisherman seen here in a promotional video for a fishing business he owned with his brother shot months before their father's arrest. as recently as friday madoff stopped by the manhattan garage where he parked his two cars and dropped off a holiday card thanking the employees for all their help with a $400 tip, a typical holiday gesture, though it was earlier than normal. >> he looked fine. >> reporter: in fact, the walls were closing in on mark madoff. two days earlier on wednesday a federal bankruptcy trustee seeking funds for the victims filed suit against madoff's current and former wives and his three children saying $274,000 she received since 2002 were nothing more than other people's money. then on friday night the "wall street journal" posted an article online speculating about

criminal charges. sources say mark madoff concluded he would never be able to escape the scandal. mark madoff was never charged with a crime, and a source says madoff was given no indication he ever would be. his involvement in his father's business raised suspicion and so did his lavish lifestyle. he allegedly received nearly $67 million in improper payments, astronomical compensation according to the trustee allowing madoff to pch homes in nantucket t-manhattan and greenich, connecticut. victims say mark madoff's death compounds their own tragedy. >> any deepest sympathies to the family, and i'm really, really sad about that. it's really sad that that's what it takes for this to come back to the surface. >> mark madoff claimed all along he too was a victim, but others say even if he wasn't directly involved, he had to know something. >> he worked side by side with

his father for many, many years. who knows what deep, dark secrets he carried around with him. >> reporter: if so, he will carry those secrets with him to the grave. scott koen, cnbc, new york. selling pot is a growing industry, and it's all legal. [ laughter ] ♪ [ male announcer ] for tim and richard smucker, giving a gift of their delicious jam always made the holidays just a little bit sweeter. we forgot to put our names on them! richard, i think they'll know who it's from. ♪ thank you, boys. you're welcome. you're welcome. [ male announcer ] happy holidays from our family to yours. i love christmas. you don't get 100% daily value of any vitamins. unless you do this. but total is the cereal that gives you 100% daily value of 11 essential vitamins and minerals and crunchy oat clusters.

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the ingredients are common except for one, a colorado-grown herb. >> it's always important to make sure that you have high quality pot. this is breakfast. >> reporter: pot is going mainstream, and leading the way are people like scott and wanda. do you represent the new generation of can na business entrepreneurs? >> definitely. when you look around the industry and the people that have come into the industry, this is america's new hot industry. >> reporter: wanda and scott are branding and marketing medical marijuana under their label simply pushgs a line of cannabis infused edibles. >> every time you have a product, they affect you the same. >> reporter: in the first year since the boon the state has collected $21 million through sales tax and a host of licensing fees. medical marijuana laws are in

the books in washington, d.c. and 15 states, and support for legalizing marijuana has never been greater. in tough times medical marijuana is one industry putting people to work. >> these oyster crackers are popular, too. >> you're looking at a time when the economy is in the toilet. real estate brokers, contractors, city agencies, insurance companies, suppliers. >> reporter: yet people are still smoking pot? >> exactly. >> reporter: there are more pot dispensaries in colorado than starbucks. too close for some. >> how die teach my kid it's an illegal drug, federally it's illegal. what kind of signal do we send to our young people? >> what does it send to your children when you have a fully stocked refrigerator with coors light or budweiser in it? >> reporter: it's a debate that raging on in colorado and across the country as the medical marijuana movement brings us

closer to imagining what the legalization of pot might look like. >> you can see more of the reporting on this to her on a special program "marijuana usa" tonight at 10:00 eastern on cnbc. no engagement is complete without them. photographs of the happy couple, prince william and kate middleton. they were taken by fashion and celebrity photographer mario testino, a favorite of princess diana. up next, star turn. getting in character by going to extremes. ever had a heart attack. if anything, i thought i'd get hit by a bus, but not a heart. all of a sudden, it's like an earthquake going off in your body. my doctor put me on an aspirin regimen to help protect my life. [ male announcer ] aspirin is not appropriate for everyone. so be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. to my friends, i say, you know, check with your doctor, 'cause it can happen to anybody. [ male announcer ] be ready if a heart attack strikes.

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finally tonight how far do celebrities go to get into xhash character? increasingly actors and actresses are changing their diets in order to look the part in every way. is it dedication or dangerous? here's nbc's lee cowan. >> reporter: perhaps the best compliment actress charlize theron ever got was, boy, do you look awful. >> circumstance is exactly it. >> apparently nothing something oscar like a gorgeous actress packing on 30 pounds and uglying herself up for the camera. >> the fact she looked so remarkably different in that role helped people disassociate away from the glamorous charlize

they knew. >> reporter: there could be more oscar glory for those this year that take embodying the role? notice something missing from natalie portman and black swan? how about 20 pounds. it took a year and bar training eight hours a day sometimes. then there's christian bale who went from badman buff to strong-out skinny in the fighter. but that's nowhere near the skeleton he played in the machinist. >> if you were any thinner, you wouldn't exist. >> reporter: he lived off an apple, water, and a can of tuna every day and nothing else. >> believe me, i don't go looking for things. if it does happen, i'm like, damn, i got to do that again. i tend to do it for the movie and character. >> reporter: tom hanks may be the king of the weight i donyo-.

he went from an average attorney into a man dying from aides. and he was nominated from shrinking to the fedex executive to cast away. >> you're not showing up on set and getting into character. you're living in a way that puts you in touch with that character. >> reporter: movies may be make-believe, but atth actors are very real and roles that seem skin deep may not pull their weight at the oscars. nbc news, hollywood. that's "nbc nightly news" for in sunday. up next, "football night in america" followed by nbc's "sunday night football." the eagles versus the cowboys tonight. brian williams will be here tomorrow. i'm lester holt reporting from new york. from all us here at nbc news, new york. from all us here at nbc news, good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com