facebook and twitter. >> see you at 6:00. on our broadcast tonight, taking a dive. while records continue to fall up north tonight, in the deep south they're preparing for a major winter event. for some cities, the worst in a generation. dangerous journey in one of the most volatile places on the planet. a big olympic target makes its way through the center of all those threats tohe games. an nbc exclusive tonight. new secret documents from edward snowden, revealing how spies can snoop on-sites like youtube and facebook without permission. tonight, governments are trying to predict the future. and cold weather, the largest gathering of its kind in the world. "nightly news" begins now.

good evening. a state of emergency has been declared in the city of new orleans. schools and government buildings will be closed tomorrow, and it's not hurricane season. instead, this is about a big winter storm, and from new orleans right on up the coastline, there are watches and warnings posted tonight in a number of southern cities that are not equipped to deal with the snow and ice from this storm. 800 flights have been cancelled in advance from san antonio all the way to new york's la guardia. the haul hallmark of this winter thus far has been the reach of winter so far to the south. and up north where schools will also be closed tomorrow from pittsburgh north to st. paul, it has been a costly winter for those trying just to stay warm at home. we have both north and south covered tonight. first to john yang in chicago. john, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. chicago's temperature peaked at

6. that was at midnight. it has been falling ever since. right now it's 2 below here in chicago, on our way down to a forecast low of 11 below. >> we've just about had enough of this weather. >> reporter: already, chicago has had 16 days of sub-zero temperatures, more than double the average. and it is much the same across the midwest. in wisconsin, a rare glimpse of nature's beauty. for the first time in five years the ice is thick enough for visitors to safely visit lake superior's sea caves. on lake michigan, ice is a hazard, so icebreakers are hard at work. as temperatures plunge, heating bills soar. >> they need to know they will be paying more than last winter. >> reporter: hardest hit, the 63 million users of natural gas and propane. natural gas prices have hit three and a half year highs, despite a glut in north dakota that is being burned off because

pipelines can't keep up. nationwide the government predict an average $665 heating bill, 10% more than last year. in the northeast, record cold means more higher bills, a jump of up to 17%, for the propane users in the midwest, a bigger jump, an average bill of more than $1600, up 23%. nearly two dozen states, most of them in the midwest, have declared propane emergencies. >> in the worse case scenario, it would allow us to call out the national guard to provide direct assistance. >> reporter: industry officials blame the shortage on several fact, to including shippers giving priority to natural gas. so now propane is being shipped from plants in texas all the way to the upper midwest. and lawmakers in washington want investigations into claims of price gouging. >> we would welcome having those unearthed and investigated. >> reporter: but for now, some

utilities -- >> this is an important message. >> reporter: are asking users to conserve. >> they asked us to turn down our thermostat at about 12:01 a.m. >> reporter: with more frigid temperatures tomorrow, schools, universities and even local governments tomorrow will be closed across the region. brian? >> john yang and a cold night in chicago. john, thanks. let's get a preview now of this southern storm. al roker is at the map here in the studio with more on that. al? >> that's right. to give you a sense of this, brian, if you're 25 years old and live in tallahassee or younger, you have never experienced anything like this. we have windchill ice warnings to the southeast. and to the north we have the windchill warnings as well. so we're talking about 60 million people affected by some sort of warning or watch tonight into tomorrow morning. here is what we've got. again, another piece of that polar vortex breaks off. the cold air all the way down in the panhandle of florida. look at the windchills. by tomorrow morning it will feel

like 36 in chicago. 22 below in cleveland. 18 below in syracuse. new york city will feel like 1 below. and 38 in charleston. now, with this big winter snow and ice storm, here is what is happening. this cold air coming down, funneling all the way down into florida. gulf moisture riding up and over it as it does. it's fairly shallow to begin with. and so that's going to be ice. and then as we go to the north, we're going to be looking at snow out of this thing, as far as ice accumulations, we expect from myrtle beach to charleston, back to albany, virginia, up to half an inch. that is going to be crippling. and the snow, brian, from myrtle beach and on up to norfolk, we're talking anywhere from 6 to 9 inches. the good news is if we hang in there until friday, temperatures actually rise above normal for a good portion of the country. >> all right, al, we'll look for the very latest from you tomorrow morning. al roker in the studio. al, thanks. and in columbia, maryland, the mall that was the fatal scene of a shooting, still not known why the suspect brought a shotgun into the mall.

he went up to the second floor and killed two employees in a skateboard shop before taking his own life. tonight a royal caribbean cruise ship is on its way back to port in new jersey two days early after almost 600 passengers on board, dozens of crewmembers came down with a stomach virus. health officials from the cdc boarded the ship yesterday in the virgin islands to assess the situation. the decision to end the voyage was made after consulting with the cruise line's own physicians. with ten days to go until the games, the olympic torch today went through dagestan, the region where the greatest threats to the games have come from. the russians have been cracking down there with both the torch and the games now approaching. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel is there again for us tonight. >> reporter: it was too dangerous to run the torch through the streets of dagestan, so organizers gathered a few thousand spectators into a

soccer stadium in the rain to watch the flame circle the field, police guarding every entrance. not the most triumphant olympic moment, but it reveals the deep instability in dagestan, a war zone on sochi's doorstep. nbc news has learned new details about a russian special forces operation here just nine days ago. inside this house under attack, alleged militant zaira alieva, one of the so-called black widows, a would-be suicide bomber police say was plotting to attack the olympics. the video, shot and distributed by police to showcase their efforts to keep sochi safe. we visited the house. it's about to collapse. across the street, a neighbor showed us where russian troops took up positions. in her attic. and over here is where they were shooting? you can see all the bullet casings here on the floor where

russian special forces were firing at the house across the street. the entire battle lasted about 12 hours. among the seven killed, zaira alieva. the police video shows weapons they found. but zaira's parents tell us their daughter was innocent, from a normal family. things changed when police started questioning the family after that volgograd bombing in december. "she was afraid the police would torture her," her mother said, so she went into hiding. innocent or guilty, zaira is dead, and dagestan is increasingly under fire as the olympics approach. richard engel, nbc news, zagg dagestan. back in the country, lots of news about politics, all of it somewhat unbelievably about 2016. hillary clinton remains at the center of speculation, and she talked about the speculation earlier today. as we saw this weekend, the

attacks are already under way in case she joins the race. and indeed, it's already getting personal. our report on all of it tonight from nbc's andrea mitchell. >> reporter: hillary clinton today in new orleans, delivering a six-figure speech to 4,000 auto dealers and ducking the 2016 question. >> i'm not thinking about it. i try to get other people not to think about it. >> reporter: half of the republican contenders are sure thinking about it. even rand paul's wife, who said vogue bill clinton's behavior was predatory, offensive to women, and should complicate his return to the white house as a spouse, profit. ing david gregory's question on "meet the press." >> someone who takes advantage of a young girl in their office, i mean, really, and then they have the gall to stand up and say republicans are having a war on women? >> right. but is it something that hillary clinton should be judged on if she were a candidate in 2016? >> no, i'm not saying that. this was with regard to the clintons. and sometimes it's hard to separate one from the other. >> reporter: the women's issue blew up again when mike huckabee raised it before the gop.

the democrats want to insult the women of america by making them believe that they are helpless without uncle sugar coming in and providing for them a prescription each month for birth control because they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system. >> reporter: drawing a quick rebuke from the party chairman. >> as we look to grow the ranks of our party, we must all be very conscious of tone and choice of words. >> reporter: instead of talking about sex, republican strategists just want to attack clinton on benghazi, which today she called her biggest regret as secretary of state. as for clinton not thinking about 2016, sunday's "new york times" portrayed her as mad sack of the universe, with a web of key political contact, now including obama's campaign manager, raising money for clinton, while other clinton supporters spent the weekend in a state she lost so bitterly to obama, iowa. andrea mitchell, nbc news, washington. florida republican congressman trey raidle has

resigned effective tonight. he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor cocaine possession a while back after making a purchase from an undercover police officer. the now former house freshman representing ft. myers faces a year of probation there will be a special election to fill his seat. a name from new orleans' recent past went on trial there, today. ray nagin, mayor of the city during katrina in court on bribery charges. in the 21-count indictment, nagin is charged with accepting more than $200,000 in bribes in exchange for helping local businesses win city contracts. he is denying any wrongdoing. still ahead for us tonight, an nbc news exclusive. new top secret documents from edward snowden revealing how spies are getting into facebook and youtube without permission, and what they're in there looking for. and later an update from a man with a dog he credits for saving his life. good news to report after a huge outpouring of support.

tonight, nbc news has

exclusively obtained top secret documents revealing just how intrusive spying can be on some of the most widely used sites on the web, including youtube and facebook. the documents, taken from nsa computers by edward snowden, reveal a covert program that allows british spies to scour the internet and tap vast amounts of data that might give them insight into future events. nbc's stephanie gosk has been looking into the documents, and joins us from moscow. >> reporter: brian, edward snowden remains in exile here in russia while the trove of information he leaked from the nsa continues to rock western intelligence agencies. working with freelance journalist glenn greenwald, nbc news obtained documents that snowden leaked before he came here to russia. the documents show how the u.s. and british intelligence agencies analyzed youtube videos, facebook likes and tweets. it is a broad and secret intrusion that privacy advocates are condemning.

egypt didn't see it coming. western spies missed it too. the arab spring, one of the most dramatic revolutions in modern day was basically a surprise. fast forward to the one-year anniversary, a much smaller demonstration in the gulf nation of bahrain. this time, british intelligence officials had developed the ability to predict the rally before anyone took to the streets. how? documents obtained by nbc news, reveal that on any given day, british spies are able to secretly tap into specific social media to see what is being looked at and where. on february 13th, 2012, these two youtube clips of past protests in bahrain suddenly became prop lar, an online heads-up that another rally was in the works. the u.s. owned internet giants facebook and google had no idea the british were snooping. >> 20 or 30 years ago, much of this information could be collected through human spies on the ground.

today social media, facebook and the like, are critical to understanding social movements. >> reporter: the documents leaked by edward snowden and obtained by nbc news included a top secret presentation of a pilot program given to american intelligence officials by gchq, the british equivalent of the nsa. the slides show how british spies are able to tap into cables and pull encrypted high speed data, including youtube addresses. they analyze the information to answer critical questions. none of the data is gathered within the u.s., sources say, but americans who use these websites overseas may have their online activity monitored. the nsa say they operate within the law and do not spy on the social media activities of ordinary americans. civil liberties groups, among others, are alarmed. >> it's one thing to spy on a particular person who has done something to warrant a government investigation. but governments have no business

monitoring the facebook likes of hundreds of millions of people. >> reporter: for companies like google that already worry about hackers, protecting user information from governments represents a much more daunting security challenge. >> governments get access to the pipe that is the governments can tap in to the network infrastructure that is carrying all the data. >> reporter: gchq would neither confirm nor deny any element of this report. facebook has only recently begun encrypting data what people like on the site. industry officials say further encryption is inevitable. experts that we have spoken to say they worry that government intelligence gathering on this scale could erode worldwide trust in the internet as a whole. the debate over the right balance between national security and privacy rages on. brian? >> stephanie gosk with our exclusive reporting tonight out of moscow. stephanie, thanks. we'll take another break. we're back in a moment with the race to help out an american town that has been cut off with no way out.

the folks in valdez, alaska, have been told their town may be cut off for a week after a huge avalanche buried the main highway with water and slush up wards of 40 feet deep. there are worries about flash flooding because of a backup of water behind the avalanche. alaska has seen some unseasonably warm temperatures this season. if you landed from space and turned on last night's grammys from l.a., not sure what you would have thought of our culture. but if you turned in to see daft punk, except for record album of the year, you might have thought other guys from space had beaten them to it and landed here first. the french electronic duo do not appear as themselves that wouldn't be right. lorde, the 17-year-old from new zealand won for song of the year. and madonna sang in a white cowboy outfit while queen latifah presided over a white wedding for couples. in l.a., they call that sunday

night. and if you're a hockey fan, this winter at the big house in michigan they set an all-time nhl attendance record in blowing snow. this past saturday night it was 62 at game time in dodgers stadium in l.a. then yesterday, yankees stadium delayed because of sun glare. game-time temperature in the teens, and the rangers beat the devils by a football score in a baseball stadium. 7-3, which meant we got to hear the call by the great doc emrick, over and over. >> score! score! score! score! >> he scores! >> they liked it so much they will play hockey again wednesday night in the house that ruth built. and an update tonight on a man we profiled here a while back. a blind new yorker named cecil williams who collapsed and fell between subway tracks with his guide dog orlando hunkered by his side. they both survived as the train went over the top of them. cecil didn't want to lose orlando, who is turning 11 and must retire. but now thanks to donations from

viewers like you, orlando can stay with its new buddy, godiva, just out of guide dog training, and ready to pour on the unconditional love, as they are now and will remain a happy family of three. up next here tonight, a place where the brutal cold is most welcome.

finally here tonight, one more note about our cold winter, and a very important reminder that it is only bad news if it is unwelcome in your life. based on the theory that anybody can throw a hook in the water and try to catch a fish on a summer day, only the few, the proud and the brave prefer ice fishing. it is an activity that you really have to love to participate. and in minnesota this time of year, they really do love it. despite those wild resume. >> it's just an excuse to get together and enjoy a beverage or two. nbc's harry smith is back from the great north. >> reporter: when it comes to winter, minnesotans pretty much think the rest of us are wimps. with a daytime high of 2 degrees saturday, almost 10,000 people showed up for the annual brainerd ice fishing

extravaganza. >> have you done this before? >> no, this is my 12th years. >> reporter: it's a big deal because whoevers the biggest fish wins a pickup truck. you ever won anything? >> no. maybe this is my year. >> reporter: but here is the cold, hard truth. most people don't catch a thing, even when they know what lies underneath. >> you have all of this sophisticated stuff. and you got the camera, right? >> yeah. >> reporter: is that going to help you catch anything? >> no. it never does. >> reporter: it never does? ice fishing it appears is less about fish than it is about beer. how do you keep the beer from freezing? >> drink it fast. >> keep drinking. >> reporter: and brats. >> this is minnesota hospitality assets finest. >> reporter: it's really good. it's sort of like a football tailgate without the game. why do you do this? >> i don't know. these guys said it was really fun and it has been freezing cold every time i have came. and it just keeps getting worse. >> you always leave with a belly full of beer and a good time with your friends.

>> reporter: and while the party is important, the fishing is more than an after thought. it embodies the struggle of man against nature. it is minnesotans staring into the icy void with unbending faith that somewhere down there is the catch of their dreams, the big one. the legend maker. or not. that's it? that's what you caught? >> yeah. >> reporter: some of the trophies were barely bigger than bait. but at the end of the day, a champion was crowned. >> look at that! >> reporter: and a truck was won. and minnesotans once again proved to the rest of us that we need not be casualties of the cold, but conquerers. >> be back next year! woo! >> reporter: harry smith, nbc news, minnesota. >> what a great story, and boy do those brats look tasty right about now. that's our broadcast on a monday night as we start off a new week.

thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we hope to see you from washington tomorrow. we'll have special coverage of the president's state of the union of address. good night. making sure i don't walk out too late. i'm thinking about buying a taser. >> students changing up their routines as police hunt for at least two sexual assault suspects at san jose state. good evening and thanks for joining us. i'm janelle wang in for jessica aguirre. >> the spring semester is beginning at san jose state and campus police are responding to three sexual assaults and there might be multiple suspects. kris sanchez joins us live with a lot of concerned people there,

especially the women, chris. >> reporter: yeah, class just started less than a week ago and already this and already since thursday when classes started. classes like this would have been activated 55 times as students look for esz courts and the number could go up as more people find out about the three sexual assaults reported this weekend and we found out just about two hours ago, that a fourth woman has come forward saying she's been a victim, too. >> gave us alerts that night, like three alerts that concerned me. especially at night because i like to walk around. >> reporter: students got three e-mail and text alerts after three sexual assaults reported on campus saturday night and sunday morning. campus police say two women reported being groped by a man they describe 20 to 30 years old about 6 feet tall with red hair and a mustache. they say he rode off on a bike. another woman said two men on skateboards approached her after