could make it feel like minus 10. possibly colder. >> we'll see what happens. see you at 6:00. our broadcast tonight, the big storm making its way across a huge part of this country with heavy snow and a travel danger for those on the move after the holidays. rescue at the bottom of the world. finally they are off that frozen ship after nine days stuck in the ice. captured. how a routine traffic stop led to the arrest of a fugitive accused of stealing tens of millions. and what he told police when he was caught. and "making a difference" in a devastated community learning what it means to give because they have all received. "nightly news" begins now. good evening. on this january 2nd, it's one thing to call it the first major

winter storm of the new year, but it is also the biggest snowfall in a long while in a lot of places. it's the timing of the massive storm in the eastern part of the country around so many transportation hubs that's causing problems tonight. before this is over, more than 100 million americans will be affected by the storm in 20 of the 50 states. all the way from the midwest to the northeast. doesn't seem to want to leave some areas that are in the thick of it tonight. in other spots it's just getting started just as millions of people are getting started traveling after the holiday break. it's where we begin our coverage this thursday night. nbc's ron mott starts us off from boston. ron, good evening. >> reporter: hey, brian. good evening to you. it's starting to get nasty out here, but some good news to report tonight. the evening rush has moved smoothly. a relief to folks trying to get home. make no mistake, we expect to get pounded by the triple threat of heavy snow, strong winds and bitter cold. what may amount to 24-plus hours of nonstop snow began falling

before dawn around metro boston, at times whipped up by stiff, blustery winds. >> this is a big one. the new year nor'easter is a monster. >> reporter: warnings from new york to maine about the size and scope of the storm put officials on high alert. new york governor andrew cuomo. >> mother nature is starting the new year showing us who's in charge. >> reporter: massachusetts governor patrick. >> the temperatures will be extreme. and that's a serious hazard. >> reporter: across the northeast into new england the sweeping storm is upsetting travel plans. delays and cancellations rule the flight boards at new york's laguardia and logan which expects to shut down later tonight. in maine, hard hit by a recent ice storm, plows and shovels dig in. same scene in neighboring new hampshire. >> i try to get out early, get it knocked down. >> reporter: in rhode island, a rapid freeze triggered water main breaks. >> had some flooding damage, icing. the road was lifted up because

there is about a foot of frost. >> reporter: by contrast, niagara falls is a picture of beauty. further south in new york city, cleanup crews are at the ready. back in metro boston -- >> the flooding has already started to take effect. >> reporter: coastal flooding on the south shore is adding to the list of worries. work continued on stabilizing sea walls, hoping they will hold back the wind-driven ocean at high tide. statewide, nearly 1900 crews fanned out to clear and treat roads with chemicals. a round-the-clock operation to keep pace with the heaviest snowfall. a boston homeless shelter is ready for a full house tonight. 760 beds and then some. >> we'll pull out cots, mats. make sure everybody has a warm place to stay tonight. >> reporter: former high school teacher richard o'neil among them. >> i'm grateful to be able to have a place like this to stay. cold winter's night. a great relief. great relief. >> reporter: tonight the governors of new york and new jersey have declared states of

emergency. we expect this list will grow as we move into the tithe of this storm in the overnight hours, brian. >> ron mott from boston tonight. as we mentioned the storm has been slowly making its way east. it's taking its time vacating places in the midwest where it's been snowing in some places for the better part of two days. we get that part of this story from nbc's kevin tibbles north of chicago in highland park. kevin, good evening. >> reporter: absolutely, brian. there are parts of the midwest where the snow has been going for two days nonstop without a break. in illinois alone, there are 1300 plows and salt trucks on the roads. it's causing chaos and forecasters are saying there is more to come. up in suburban libertyville they are digging out from more than 16 inches of snow. a challenge for deliverymen. an opportunity for folks looking for work.

for many, just a lot of shoveling. >> a little bit overwhelming. it's. coming in waves. little by little, you have to keep it clean. >> reporter: crews have been out clearing the highways but the roads remain treacherous. this truck fire further complicated the morning rush. a travel nightmare at o'hare airport with hundreds of flight delayed or cancelled. in indianapolis, some are finding alternate means of transportation as city crews had a tough time there too. >> we had almost four inches in four hours. that's almost an inch an hour. that will definitely create a challenge on the road. >> reporter: a dusting of snow caused accidents on dangerously icy roads in western kentucky. blowing snow caused havoc in ohio, too. in michigan, they are digging out again. just after thousands endured power outages caused by a christmas ice storm. in detroit, long hours and good money for landscaper pat ireland. >> oh, my gosh, yeah. we've been nonstop ffr -- for

the last month. >> hi. would you like your snow shoveled. >> reporter: 11-year-old jeremy deny is trying to earn enough pocket money for a new skateboard. >> you work for yourself. don't just depend on nobody either. >> reporter: just when you thought all the snow was enough to contend with, well, forecasters are saying there's another arctic blast on the horizon. monday's high for this region, a balmy minus 8 degrees. that's cold, brian. >> kevin tibbles in the chicago suburbs tonight. kevin, thanks. the broad impact of the storm on transportation has to do with all the folks trying to get home after the new year's and long christmas break. nbc's tom costello is keeping track of things on the roads and in the air tonight. hey, tom. good evening. >> reporter: aaa estimates 86 million people have been traveling by car over the holidays. many of the families are now making their way back home. we are watching i-95 and connecting highways along the east coast. a live shot from i-93 in

braintree, mass. traffic is always bad there. we have snow-packed roads expected to worsen and a realtime traffic view of the major interstates in the eastern half of the country. if it is red or yellow it's problematic. you can see trouble in new york city. we already got i-84 closed to traffic from midnight to 5:00 a.m. the long island expressway, trouble. traffic into and out of manhattan. look at the northeast and in new england. massachusetts and new hampshire, vermont, trouble there. along i-90 along the top of the country, upper new york and into the midwest delays there as well. now to the air. and a realtime live radar image of all the planes in the air at this moment. not nearly as many as we normally see this time of day. that's because already more than 8,000 flights delayed or canceled so far today. live picture now. jfk in new york. some arriving flights delayed by five hours there. we're coming over to the flight aware misery map. so far for the new york city

airports, we've got a total of about 81 canceled flights, 111 delays. look at how it spreads across the country. that's the impact. orange and red are not good. detroit, same story. about three cancellations so far. 37 delays, but chicago o'hare now, a big problem. 82 canceled flights. 116 delays and the impact across the country. already being felt on the roads, in the air, and on the train rails as well. brian? >> in some places we are just getting started. tom costello watching it all for us tonight. tom, thanks. as for the track of the storm, al roker is on the plaza here at 30 rock where he can attest to the windchill numbers. if you are watching from florida to phoenix you're probably wondering what the fuss is unless you are waiting on a flight from the east. >> that's it exactly, brian. this ripples out and will continue to ripple out. we are seeing snowshowers in new york. as you look at the wide view of

of the radar, you can see it spreads from new england all the way back to the midwest. heavy rain to the south. snowfall amounts so far just outside chicago, 18 irges inches of snow. cleveland and cincinnati, three inches. butler, p.a., six inches. 3.5 inches of snow in boston. by 9:00, philly, new york city, boston all involved. washington, d.c. as well. as we move into the overnight hours we see this system moving offshore intensifying, bringing in strong winds, blizzard conditions, winds of 35 miles per hour or more. visibilities of a quarter mile or less. by 6:00 a.m. friday, systems merge into one. we still have heavy snow in the morning rush, then it moves out. but it's still going to be windy and blustery. add to it we are looking at snowfall amounts generally 6 to 9 inches. right along the massachusetts/new england coastline, up to 15 incheses of snow. add the to that winds. we are talking about winds gusting over 35 miles per hour. really, really poor visibility.

and the misery is compounded by the temperatures. we're going to have a second storm coming in saturday night into sunday dropping anywhere from 3 to 6 inches from syracuse into central missouri. and those temperatures overnight, bri, we're talking about well below zero with windchills. what happens then, the salt as you know on the roads doesn't become effective. so it will be a mess. we'll have complete details tomorrow starting on "wake up with al" at 5:00 a.m. on the weather channel and tomorrow on "today" at 7:00. >> thank you, al roker out on the plaza as a slight snow falls over new york. al, thanks. the weather finally cleared in antarctica and that meant more than 50 passengers caught in the ice aboard the russian research ship could finally be air lifted out by helicopter. and that for them ended a nine-day ordeal that's been followed around the world. we get the very latest on their trek from nbc's martin fletcher.

>> reporter: rescue drama at the end of the world. a chinese helicopter drops off scientists rescued from the trapped ship and returns to pick up the rest. >> the first of the helicopters to take us home. >> thanks, everyone. >> reporter: few clouds, low winds, perfect helicopter weather. after five hours all 52 passengers, scientists, and tourists trapped on a are russian research ship were ferried to safety a dozen at a time. they've been stuck nine days since christmas eve. a late christmas present flown to an australian ice breaker. >> welcome aboard. >> hello! thank you. we're happy to see you guys. >> reporter: next stop, tasmania for another two weeks, leaving their ship stuck with its 22 crew staying on board and a chinese ice breaker nearby, also stuck in the ice calling for help. from the start it was an adventure driven by social media. now connected to the world, you can't even get lost in

antarctica without the whole world watching. these explorers were all over the internet. on skype, twitter, youtube, vine. >> hopefully we'll hear about the evacuation soon. >> reporter: compare that to douglas morrison a hundred years ago whose expedition the scientists were retracing. after a tragic accident, he missed the boat home and had to wait a year to be rescued. today's explorers were choppered out after nine days with their luggage. on social media now, questions. why did this group get stuck in the first place? and was it all worth it? martin fletcher, nbc news, london. to other news now from overseas in the middle east. a powerful car bomb blew up in the southern suburbs of beirut. this was the latest in a series of bombings of late. they all appear to be aimed at hezbollah in retaliation for the side they've taken in the syrian civil war helping the assad government forces. lebanese media put the death

toll at 6 with over 70 wounded. the former prime minister of israel ariel sharon is apparently near death in a tel aviv hospital. he suffered a stroke almost eight years ago now and has remained in a managed coma since then. but just in the last several days, doctors have reported his condition has deteriorated as his organs have started to fail. ariel sharon is 85 years old. still ahead for us tonight on "nbc nightly news," the chance encounter that led to the capture of a fugitive wanted for stealing millions from a bank. later, how going through very tough times taught them how to make a difference when it comes to others.

we have learned more tonight about this week's capture and arrest of a fugitive during a routine traffic stop. the man was a small town georgia banker who raised millions of dollars from friends who were looking for a safe investment. that was until he disappeared and was accused of stealing the

life savings of some of his investors. he went as far as to leave behind a suicide note, but he turned up very much alive when he was pulled over by the cops who found out who he was. we get the story tonight from nbc's mark potter. >> reporter: in court today aubrey lee price was denied bond as a flight risk. authorities in georgia say price told them since disappearing a year and a half ago he'd been homeless working menial jobs, but florida officials say he actually rented a house near ocala where hundreds of marijuana plants were grown. his appearance is a far cry from when he was a georgia bank director and minister before he was indicted for an alleged multi-million dollar investment fraud. price was last seen in june 2012 as he was buying a ticket for a ferry boat ride in key west, florida. investor wendy cross said he destroyed her retirement savings and is glad he's now behind bars. >> justice prevails. the big foot of karma will come back and squash you.

>> reporter: price handled investments for the montgomery bank and trust. federal authorities say after raising $40 million from more than 100 investors and suffering massive losses, price then fraudulently obtained over $21 million of bank funds which he then misappropriated, embezzled, and lost. in a lengthy confession letter he wrote, i am 100% responsible for the losses i created. and suggested he was going to kill himself. a year ago a florida judge declared price legally dead ruling he took his life at sea. but price was still alive. his time on the run ending tuesday along i-95 in brunswick, georgia. when deputies noticed his truck's window tinting was too dark. >> he said, i'm going to make you famous and if you can accept reward money i'll make you rich. i said, who are you? he said, i'm aubrey lee price. i said, exactly who is that? he said, i'm wanted by the fbi.

>> reporter: if convicted, price could get 30 years in prison while investors struggle to rebuild. mark potter, nbc news, miami. and we're back in a moment with a new case of hacking out there involving the personal data of millions.

as we mentioned, there's been another big hacking. if you are a snapchat or skype user, your information may have been compromised. hackers got into and posted a database of 4.6 million snapchat users and their phone numbers. the attack on skype was separate and unrelated. the federal government still considers it an illegal drug, but colorado does not. this was day two of retail recreational marijuana sales in colorado. it's as easy as going to the store. and sales are brisk with customers remaining mostly mellow. in-state residents 21 and older can buy an ounce at a time. visitors, up to a quarter ounce. you can't smoke it in public.

it's a felony to have over eight ounces, and you can't bring it to the airport. nonetheless, it's now available in stores. and as one customer told the "l.a. times," quote, this is the amsterdam trip we couldn't take. former first lady barbara bush is resting comfortably in the hospital in houston. she was hospitalized on monday after doctors feared pneumonia. she has been responding to respiratory treatment. she and former president bush 41 are just four days away from their 69th wedding anniversary. they enjoy the distinction of being the longest married first couple in the history of our republic. well, they don't call it the big house for nothing. yesterday it lived up to its name. michigan stadium in ann arbor, the gridiron home of the likes of bo schembechler and jerry ford yesterday hosted the nhl winter classic. hockey as it was meant to be played. outdoors in the elements. blowing snow, 13 degrees at game time and regular stoppages to clear the ice. they did set an attendance

record. 105,491 brave souls. and dedicated hockey fans. officially the largest hockey could in hockey history. they got to see the leafs beat the red wings in a shootout, 3-2. when we come back, learning a lesson about the importance of "making a difference."

finally tonight our "making a difference" report is about a powerful lesson kids are learning as early as elementary school about the importance of giving back after someone has done the same for you. and our report tonight comes from nbc's rehema ellis. >> reporter: at the party store, it didn't take long for students to pick out supplies for their school project. >> i love how everything coordinates. >> reporter: once back at p.s. 47 in the queens section of new york city, the whole class of 3rd graders pitched in to write cards and choose their favorite items to fill birthday party bags for kids they don't know.

>> makes me feel good. >> reporter: to understand why they are doing this we have to show you where the givers are from. their school sits just steps from the water's edge. when hurricane sandy hit last year, it devastated the community. people rallied to help. realizing this was a teachable moment the school put together a lesson on giving back. they partnered with a charity called family to family which donated the money to buy the party gifts that will go to a food pantry or to needy kids at other schools. >> although these children may be experiencing a tremendous challenge, that there is still someone out there who needs their help. >> reporter: it's a message that's spreading. >> how are we going to give to other children for their birthdays? >> we could send stuff that they don't have. >> reporter: at p.s. 317, another elementary school not far away, 85% of the students qualify for the free or reduced

lunch program. now they're turning the tide. >> i think it's very important for children to learn how to give today so they can become adults who give tomorrow. >> reporter: why do you think it's so important to give something to somebody that you don't even know? >> because giving is the best thing. >> reporter: for 10-year-old star ashmore it's an honor. >> makes me feel like a hero. >> reporter: children learning in the art of giving something away. they get something too. rehema ellis, nbc news, new york. and that is our broadcast this first thursday of 2014. thank you for being here with us. and my thanks to all my friends who filled in here allowing me to sneak off for a few days. i'm brian williams. we do hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night.

good thursday evening. thanks for joining us. i'm janelle wang in for jessica aguir aguirre. >> i'm raj mathai. we begin with new details that have a popular company in the hot seat. should the car service uber be responsible for its driver who hit and killed a 6-year-old girl on new year's eve? nbc bay area's chase cain is in san francisco at the scene of the accident. what's uber's response? >> reporter: raj, uber is distancing itself from this driver. this driver was heading west on

ellis street and turned right on to polk where the girl was crossing the street with her mother and brother who were also both hit. both survived. uber is taking a step back from the situation saying the driver was not technically driving for them at the time, we talked to one organization late today who says there are even bigger problems than who was behind the wheel. a tiny teddy bear sits in honor of 66-year-old sophia lu hit and killed in this crosswalk new year's eve. san francisco police charged 57-year-old syed muzzafar with vehicular manslaughter. during his arrest, muzzafar identified himself as a driver for the popular app-based car service uber. uber issued a statement saying "we have deactivated his uber account. the driver was not providing services on the uber system during the time of the accident. we again extend our deepest condolences to family and victims of this tra