impact it will have on the neighborhood. >> thanks for joining us. nightly news is next. we hope to see you back here at 6:00. bye bye. on our broadcast tonight, deep impact. they are upping the forecast for a massive snowstorm that's rolling on top of more than 80 million americans tonight. a huge area from the midwest up through new england brought to a standstill. a cascading mess at airports across the country. securing the games. new developments tonight about those threats against the olympics, how the u.s. is planningo get americans out of there in the event of an attack. and late word of a phone call between president obama and russian president putin. and the reunion, after 70 years of searching, a holocaust survivor finally finds one of the men who saved her. "nightly news" begins now.

good evening. a huge and sprawling winter storm is making its way up the east coast tonight with a lot of u.s. population centers in its path. and it's proving to be the rare storm where predictions are changing for the worse as it approaches. tonight it's been snowing sideways on the north lawn of the white house in washington for some time. most commuters in philadelphia bugged out and went home early based on dire predictions of a foot of snow or more. in braintree, mass at this hour, it's clear not enough people got out and got home in time. out east on the cape, it's a sporty night on the water in massachusetts. you can see this storm from space, some big cities in the teeth of it tonight, from washington on up through philly, new york, boston and everywhere in between. elsewhere in the country, those trying to fly are finding themselves affected by the storm in the east. we begin all of our coverage tonight with nbc's tom costello in washington. tom, good evening.

>> reporter: hi, brian, coming down at about an inch an hour here, it's expected to continue at that rate into the evening. the roads right now snow packed and icy. further west in western maryland they have up to 5, 6, 10 inches of snow, same in pennsylvania, west virginia and a lot of snow further northeast. mid january in the mid-atlantic, and predictions for the first real snowstorm in several years brought washington, d.c., to a standstill. >> breezy cold, lows from 4 to 10 degrees with 5 to 10 inches on the ground. >> reporter: time lapse of the capital and the white house caught the storm moving in before noon. expecting five inches or more, the federal government shut down. the u.s. capitol empty. area schools, city and state governments all closed. >> we plow it up and salt it as well. >> reporter: plow driver torrance dockens was hard at

work, in early and working late into the night. >> at this point i think we beat mother nature right now. just keep our fingers crossed. we definitely don't count her out too early. >> reporter: up and down the east coast, a heavy day of de-icing. but with more than 3,000 flights cancelled, many airports were virtual ghost towns. flight aware's misery map showing boston, new york, washington and chicago the most affected airports. steve watts was trying to fly through the storm, leaving out of d.c. >> we're from chicago. this is not an awful lot of snow. >> reporter: with so many flights grounded, amtrak picked up the slack. its trains running on time. and twitter was full of snow photos from cincinnati to west virginia to pennsylvania. in indiana this morning, the visibility was terrible. on i-65, between indianapolis and louisville, so many accidents they had to shut down the road. meanwhile, in new york and out on long island. an all out job just to stay ahead of the storm. >> terrible, treacherous, really bad. >> by midnight, we're talking 10 inches or close to it in the city.

>> reporter: across the region it's he led to a rush on groceries, ice melt and shovels. >> get one of these. >> reporter: the snow is only round one. next comes the arctic cold. and that's what we're bracing for here. they are now predicting we're going to be well below zero with the windchill at least tonight and probably for the next few days. we jump up ever so slightly to freezing on saturday, then back into the deep freeze again, it's going to be a long week or so. brian, back to you. >> tom costello in a pretty desolate looking washington, d.c., tonight. tom, thanks. because this is it a coastal storm, places like long island, new york are getting hit very hard. nbc's ron mott is there for us tonight. ron, good evening. >> reporter: hey, brian, good evening. governor andrew cuomo just late this afternoon declared a state of emergency for nine counties around the new york city metro area, including out here in long island. we're in syosset. now, long island is expected to get hit pretty hard by this storm, as much as 14, 15 inches

of snow. and take a look at the quality of the snow. because it's so cold, it's very dry. easy to move around off the sidewalks and driveways. a more difficult story when you're driving in it because the wind is blowing this stuff around. as you can see, it makes for visibility very difficult. now, the long island expressway behind me had been clogged up for about three or four hours, up until right before our live shot here. it's now open again and a lot of traffic is moving along nicely here. which is a good sign. let's send it back to you, brian. >> ron mott in syosset, long island tonight. ron, thanks. let's go out on the plaza at 30 rock in midtown manhattan to check in with al roker on where this storm is headed, perhaps, tonight into the morning hours. al, good evening. >> good evening, brian. as you know, they work nonstop, 24/7 to keep this clear. you can see the streets are snow covered, because the snow is coming down more than an inch an hour. so far, central park receiving 5 inches of snow. northeastern philadelphia 10.5 inches. reagan national 2.1, breaking a snow drought set back in 2006. here's the latest.

here's where we see this storm going. all right. it's going to continue to deepen right now with snowfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour. overnight tonight it strengthens, it deepens, it becomes what we call a weather bomb, almost, if you will. so that there are blizzard conditions, gusts of 50 miles per hour. bitterly cold arctic air will start funneling in. and as it continues to make its way up the coast by tomorrow morning, gusty winds, the snow ends, but it's going to be blowing and drifting. single digit temperatures. sub-zero windchills. snowfall amounts this is on top of what's already fallen. some areas along the cape may pick up a foot and a half. generally 9 to 12 inches of snow. now, to add insult to injury, we have the -- this is basically, we talked about it last week, the polar vortex, this is not the main polar vortex. a piece of it has broken off, and that's bringing in the cold air. so look at what we're going to be looking at tomorrow morning. minneapolis, you're going to see overnight low of 4 below, it will feel like 20 below, cincinnati will feel like 13 below.

16 below in washington. it will feel like 7 below in boston, brian. and that's not the coldest of it. by this time on thursday, it will be even colder, about 10 to 20 degrees colder. so we're not out of the woods on this thing just yet. >> al, come on inside from the plaza. al roker outside for us tonight. thanks. late today we learned the president of the united states and the president of russia have spoken by phone. as concern grows over terrorist threats against the upcoming winter olympic games in sochi, opening ceremony again just 17 days away now. tonight there's word that one of the suspected terrorists has already been taken out. we have two reports beginning with our chief foreign correspondent richard engel in moscow tonight. richard, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. on the one hand, russia says that there is no security problem, that everything is under control. but it also says that several suicide bombers are on the loose, many of them women.

♪ >> reporter: the olympic torch headed closer to sochi today. russian officials worried terrorists are trying to race there too. and that even the torch relay itself could be a target. over the next three days, very specific intelligence and six specific suspects seen in new wanted posters. potential suicide bombers russia says, hunting for targets. one is likely dead already, killed in this gunfight on saturday. but the others, police suspect the two men may be somewhere in southern russia. and the three surviving women, one of them may already be in sochi. they're called black widows, because they became terrorists after their husbands were killed. they were used to take more than 800 hostages in a moscow theater in 2002. 200 people, including the kidnappers, were killed when russian commandos stormed in.

most black widows are from the caucasus, where russia has a bloody history. its forces killed tens of thousands there in chechnya in the 1990s. yet russian president putin assured the world that the olympics in nearby sochi would be safe, the safest ever. russia built a $2 billion security zone around sochi, a so-called ring of steel. 60 miles long, 25 miles deep, 1,500 miles of fences. heavily guarded but perhaps not impenetrable. >> this ring of steel is nothing like a ring of steel. in fact, there are gaping holes in the security right now in sochi. >> to the city of sochi. >> reporter: russia has had seven years to prepare for sochi, but militants have had just as long. and they're looking now for an opportunity to strike. and, brian, the olympic torch next week will pass through dagestan, the most dangerous

part of the caucasus. brian? >> ominous situation tonight in moscow, richard engel with that. thanks. as we mentioned, the safety of american athletes and other visitors at the sochi games is a matter of growing concern to the u.s. government. for more on the security question and what role the u.s. might play in all of it, nbc's andrea mitchell in our d.c. newsroom. andrea, good evening. >> good evening. tonight that call between president obama and vladimir putin shows how high the concern is about the safety of the sochi games. as sochi is locked down, u.s. officials say the terror threat is higher than for any previous olympics, even worse than beijing, where there was little security cooperation with the u.s. first, because of the recurring terror attacks in russia. >> the threat level in sochi is so much higher than china, it's really difficult to compare the two. >> reporter: and as seen after the boston marathon bombing, a history of mutual suspicion between russian security and u.s. security officials. would vladimir putin, a former cold war spy member even ask the

u.s. for help? >> certainly vladimir putin's past history, the long cold war history between the united states and russia make any likelihood of requests either before the games or catastrophically after an event far, far, far less likely in this case. >> reporter: state department, diplomatic security officers will be in sochi, as well as fbi agents, primarily to protect the u.s. delegations. two u.s. warships will be positioned in the black sea, in case americans need to be evacuated. but experts put the odds they'd be asked to help near zero. >> there's too much bad blood, there's too much mistrust between the security services for them to simply link arms and say we're going to work on this together. >> reporter: that could now be changing. today russia's top general asked joint chiefs chairman martin dempsey for sophisticated electronic sensors to detect remote-controlled bombs in sochi. if they are sent, u.s. military personnel would have to go along and run them. the dangers in sochi are clear. >> i would not go. and i don't think i would send my family. >> reporter: but most u.s. team

members like snowboarder kelly clark are not worried. >> i'm not worried about any safety issues in russia at this point. and, you know, we're so focused on our competition and on our sport. >> reporter: the state department has issued a travel warning for americans going to russia. as president obama and vladimir putin now try to find ways to avert potential trouble. brian? >> andrea mitchell in our d.c. newsroom tonight. andrea, thanks. there was, in this country, a fatal shooting today on the campus of purdue university in indiana. authorities there say one person was killed inside a classroom in the engineering building. suspected gunmen later surrendered. the campus was locked down for hours. police say the gunman appears to have targeted the victim in question. still ahead for us tonight, he was once touted as a possible contender for president. tonight the embarrassing list of free gifts that has a former prominent governor and his wife in big trouble. and later, the delicate repair mission today high above solid ground.

this was supposed to be a day of celebration for new jersey governor chris christie, who was sworn in for a second term in office today. as he deals with a scandal over allegations that his office punished political enemies. the governor was optimistic in his address. he said his administration will quote, fight to continue to change government so that we value our differences and honor the strength of our diversity. he made no direct reference to the unfolding scandal around him. christie's inauguration party tonight was cancelled because of the snowstorm. in fact, he declared a state of emergency in his state because of the heavy snowfall. the former governor of virginia and his wife were charged today with repeatedly asking for and receiving illegal gifts from a businessman eager for state help in promoting his products. bob mcdonnell was once mentioned as a potential republican candidate for vice president or even president. this story represents a spectacular fall from grace. prosecutors say the couple

accepted more than $135,000 in direct payments and thousands more in favors. we get the story tonight from our justice correspondent pete williams. >> reporter: the charges are a huge blow to bob mcdonnell, once a rising star in the national republican party. >> and governors know how to get things done. >> reporter: according to a federal grand jury, the trouble started a year after he was sworn in, when he and virginia's first lady, maureen, began asking for favors from a businessman, johnny williams who wanted state help in promoting his line of dietary supplements made from tobacco. prosecutors say three years ago, mrs. mcdonnell asked him to take her shopping in new york, where he spent almost $20,000 buying her dresses by oscar de la renta and louis vuitton at high-end retailer bergdorf goodman. a month later, the government says, she asked williams to pay a $50,000 loan, saying the first couple was deeply in debt. and she asked williams, the

businessman, to pay $15,000 to cover the catering at the wedding of their daughter cailin. the charges say, mcdonnell was persuaded to make a $50,000 loan to a business the governor co-owned. that's on top of golf outs, vacation trips, and a rolex watch, among other favors. mcdonnell has consistently denied helping the company. >> nothing has been done with regard to my relationship with mr. williams or his company, star scientific, to give any kind of special benefits to him or his company. >> reporter: tonight mcdonnell says he's done nothing wrong. >> i did nothing illegal for mr. williams in exchange or the what i believe was his personal friendship and his generosity. >> reporter: but federal prosecutors say the governor and mrs. mcdonnell used the prestige of their positions to try to help the company. the mcdonnells appear in federal court later this week, and say they'll plead not guilty. pete williams, nbc news, washington. we're back in a moment with the billion dollar challenge issued today by one of the

richest men on the planet.

the white house announced today president obama will hold his first ever meeting with pope francis at the vatican. they'll discuss fighting poverty and income inequality.

it's part of a european swing in late march that will also take the president to the netherlands and belgium. bad news for wichita, kansas tonight, where they make learjets, among other things. the canadian parent company bombardier has announced 350 more layoffs on top of the 200 people who were notified before christmas. they are a big employer in the area, and furloughs are coming for other workers it's believed due to a slowdown in the business jet market. new research published by a journal of the national academy of sciences is blaming china for at least some of the air pollution on the american west coast. one professor from the university of california made the point that a lot of the manufacturing going on in china was outsourced in the first place from the u.s., so we're paying for it twice. while not all of l.a.'s smog problem can be blamed on another country, it is provable that pollutants are carried across the pacific by air currents aloft. you may recall the stunning photo from a few nights back.

an intense electrical storm over rio. it struck the christ the redeemer statue and damaged one of the fingers on the statue. so today up popped a repairman. who knew there were hatches and doors in the gigantic landmark, but it makes sense. while it's not a job for everyone, the damage will be repaired. quicken loans is offering a $1 billion prize to the ncaa fan who submits the perfect bracket for this year's college basketball tournament. the money will be paid with the backing of warren buffett's company, berkshire hathaway. before any potential bracketers get cocky about it, remember, there are 9 quintillion ways to fill out the 64-team bracket. that's 9 billion trillion. put more simply, it's a 9 followed by 18 zeros. then again, we're talking about a billion dollars. when we come back, how they found each other.

the survivor and soldier who helped save her so many years ago.

finally here tonight. a story that begins at the end of world war ii. two people, one of them caught in the horror of the

concentration camps, the other, a man who arrived on the side of the liberators. now, almost 70 years later, their story has come full circle. we get the story tonight from nbc's rehema ellis. >> i never forget it. >> reporter: at almost 90 years old, marsha kreuzman is still haunted by the horrors of the holocaust she lived through as a teenager. >> we didn't exist to them. we been disheired, pushed to death, killed, murdered. you cannot imagine this. >> reporter: kreuzman spent five years in concentration camps. she was even forced to dig her own father's grave. >> they put him in front of me, i have to put the wood on top of him and burn him, because they didn't want to leave any evidence. it's hard to talk about this. >> reporter: her brother and mother also killed. at 18 years old, kreuzman weighed just 68 pounds.

in 1945, she was at mauthausen, standing in a line of people being led to their death when the americans arrived. >> i was sitting outside the crematorium, and i remember like today, the noise when they say you're free, you're free. >> reporter: kreuzman never got to thank the soldiers who rescued her. she became a nurse, moved to america, and married another holocaust survivor. you did find love in your life? >> oh, yes. my husband was a nice man. >> reporter: to honor his memory, her parents, brother and the six million jews killed, kreuzman has spent years telling her story to school groups and to others. what does it mean to you when you look at all these thank you cards? >> i love it. that's what i wanted. i keep something. >> reporter: little did she know, someone else had been doing the same thing just a few miles away, but from a different point of view. joe barbella served in the u.s.

11th armored division that helped liberate concentration camps. for years he also spoke to students, sharing pictures he took and letters he sent home. but for kreuzman, never meeting any of the americans who saved her life was a nagging regret. then last october she was reading a local newspaper. >> my hands fell down, i nearly fainted. >> reporter: in a story about a couple's 65th wedding anniversary, the man in the article was joe barbella who helped liberate mauthausen. >> i was in shock, really and truly. >> reporter: after nearly 70 years of searching, a survivor met her liberator. what did you say to joe? >> i love you. thank you for liberating us. >> i'm so thankful that we saved you, because we became such friends. >> give me a kiss. give me a kiss. >> reporter: and now they share a friendship, rooted in a life-changing moment decades ago. rehema ellis, nbc news, union, new jersey.

>> how about that? that's our broadcast on a tuesday evening. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams, of course, we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. right now at 6:00 a tragic accident, an officer shot and killed in the line of duty. the shooter, a fellow officer. in the past hour, an horn none guard gathered where the officer was pronounced dead. fellow officers, as you can see, paying tribute and soluting the casket as it was transported to the coroner's van. thanks for joining us. i'm janelle wang in for raj mathai. >> this is the first time an officer has been shot and killed in the line of duty. it happened just after 1:00 in

dub land. the officers were serving a probation search warrant when happenened. >> jody more fi hernandez is at hospital and terry mcsweeney is at the apartment complex. >> reporter: truly shocking the first officer on the line of duty is killed by another officer and the one who died had a 20-year experience with the bart police. investigation underway. if you look at the parking lot, you can see a van with mass coming out the top. that's the mobile crime lab from the sheriffs' office. fbi agents out here, as well. take a look right now at some pictures we took a short time ago from the back of this apartment complex where the fatal shot was fired. we're told at 2:00 this afternoon a number of bart officers