for cabinet-ready dishes, right out of your dishwasher. it's here. life-threatening frigid temperatures endangering millions around the nation. mail stopped. trains and planes canceled. schools closed. warnings for dozens of states. we have lifesaving details ahead. >> >> reporter: with wind chills of minus 50, every inch o your body needs to be covered, including your eyes, which is why i have these goggles. your corneas can actually freeze if they're unprotected in the wind and cold. >> tragedy near times square. a young mother carrying her baby in a stroller downstairs to a subway platform falls to her death in a busy station. how could this happen? >> contradiction. the nation's top intelligence chiefs at odds with the president. painting a very different picture of north korea's nukes,

isis and more. >> the star on tv's empire ambushed, men calling him racist and home wrapping a rope around his neck. details ahead. >> it was a putt that sent thousands into a frenzy. "early today" starts right now. >> good frigid wednesday morning. i'm frances rivera. >> and i'm phillip mena. mostly of the country waking up to dangerously low temperatures, not seen in decades. the arctic blast is bringing brutal cold, snow and ice to the midwest, northeast, and even the deep south. chicago is opening warming centers around the city to provide some protection. amtrak announced last night all trains scheduled to and from chicago today are canceled. the u.s. postal service is suspending mail delivery today in minnesota, western wisconsin, iowa and western illinois. for more on this, we're joined now by nbc's ron mott in >> reporter: hey, phillip, good morning to you.

folks here in chicago are waking up to some historic low cold temperatures here. depending on where you live in this metro area, anywhere from 20 to 25 below, with wind chills anywhere from 50 to 55 below 0 and there is a chance this could be the coldest day ever in recorded history in chicago. hundreds of car accidents across several states where millions are bundled up, faced with life-threatening cold. frigid air blowing into chicago, temperatures plummeting to 25 below in spots, wind chills will make it feel like 55 below. >> if you don't need to be outside at this time, don't go outside. >> reporter: rail switches under fire to keep trains moving. just about all of us are feeling the sting. >> i think you just grin and bear it. >> just trying to stay warm. >> reporter: 85% of the country will be at or below freezing and it's not just cold. there is snow and ice, too. we've got teams covering it all. >> i'm dylan dryer in minneapolis. we are in the middle of an 80-hour stretch of temperatu o

minus 50 every inch of your body needs to be covered, including your eyes, which is why i have these goggles. your corneas can actually freeze if they're unprotected in the wind and cold for an extended period of time. >> reporter: i'm vaughn hillyard in des moines where it's going to feel like 45 below. with wind chills that low, frostbite can set in in about five minutes. >> reporter: i'm kevin tibbles in atlanta where the superbowl got off to a soggy start this morning. 1 million people are expected to descend on this big city for the game. forecasters are saying this could be the coldest week of the winter. >> reporter: i'm garrett haake in washington, d.c. with rain and snow hitting the mid-atlantic right now will make for a treacherous rush hour. >> reporter: vulnerable populations are especially at risk. >> we're talking small children, the elderly and those on medications, antidepressant or cardiac medication that could possibly cause an issue. >> reporter: some medications make it harder to regulate body temperature. the bitter cold also a threat to animals. pets should be brought inside, and dogs fitted with footwear

for outdoor walks. a brutal stretch of cold that's just getting underway. ron mott, nbc news, chicago. >> and our thanks to those correspondents braving the cold out there. bill, good morning. how bad is it going to get? >> good morning. i'm not going to stand in front of a map like this for a long time. i've never stood in front of a map that had temperatures this cold on it. this is the first time in 20, 30 years we've been this cold in the midwest and the northern plains. we're up to 61 million people now under advisories or warnings for the wind chills. and we even just added areas of hartford and providence and areas of massachusetts. so the worst of it right now is about negative 55 in duluth. we're at negative 52 in davenport. the heart of this arctic air mass which was a piece of the polar vortex a few days ago is in canada now through the northern plains ahead for the great lakes, tomorrow it will head towards areas of the northeast. again, the coldest thisning around chicago and minneapolis and tomorrow morning it's till

very cold, dangerous cold, but not quite as bad. this air mass will slowly begin to moderate just a little bit. negative 44 in chicago, negative 39 in minneapolis. we start to see the northeast thursday morning will be the worst of it for you. new york city negative 13, vermont negative 18. the other thing we have to watch closely, that temperature in chicago. the all-time coldest temperature is negative 27. doesn't look like we're going to get there this morning but we have another shot tomorrow morning. a >> oh, man, tough go. thank you, bill. chicago police are investigating a reported attack that left empire store jussie smollett hospitalized. smollett told police he was out getting a bite to eat when he was beaten by two men who hurle. police are investigating this as a possible hate crime. miguel a.m. gear has more. juss star on the hit television show empire is recovering from multiple injuries after police say he was brutally

at 2:00 a.m., investigators say two men approached smollett who may have recognized the actor yelling racial and homophobic slurs. after the assault police say the attackers threw an unknown chemical on his face and tied a noose around his neck. >> the noose was place the over the friend's neck. >> reporter: smollett took himself to a hospital where he is recovering. >> that man is doing nothing but minding his own business and you feel it's necessary to go after him like that. why? >> reporter: in a statement, chicago police say they have not identified any suspects and are looking for surveillance video of the assault. an advocate for the gay community, smollett came out to ellen in 2015. >> you cannot allow people to just, just spew hate. >> reporter: outrage on social media, including a post from lee daniels, creator of empire, who shared, then deleted this photo anyb deserves, to have a noose put around your neck, to have bleach thrown on you.

we have to love each other regardless of what sexual orientation we are. >> reporter: a hollywood star, who is black and gay, and now the victim of a heinous crime. miguel a.m. gear, nbc news. >> now to a heart breaking tragedy in the new york city subway. a young mother is dead after falling down the stairs of a station. as rehema ellis reports, her death is raising troubling questions. >> reporter: a family overwhelmed with grief. struggling to understand how their loved one died in a new york city subway last night. police say 22-year-old malaysia goodeson plunged down a flight of stairs in a manhattan subway station, holding a stroller with her one-year-old daughter inside. remarkably, the baby was not hurt. the station is here near times square, one of the busiest places in the world, a mecca for tourists. but the city's subways can be difficult to access, especially with a stroller. there is an up escalator but not one going down, and there's no

elevator. in fact, only a quarter of new york stations have elevators and a study found each broke down about 50 times a year. and in a report about u.s. infrastructure, new york's transit got a c-minus grade while the country earned a d-minus, with experts saying despite increasing demand, systems are chronically under funded, resulting in aging infrastructure. >> i'm just so shocked. i don't know which way to go. >> reporter: as the family mourns, authorities are investigating whether this young mother suffered a medical emergency or somehow tripped and fell. rehema ellis, nbc news, new between president trump and his top intel chiefs is now more apparent than ever. in testimony before congress, intelligence leaders publiclypr stance on major global threats. from russia to north korea to isis. >> we have won against isis. we've beaten them and we've beaten them badly.

the group has returned to its guerrilla warfare roots while continuing to plot attacks and direct its supporters worldwide. isis is intent on resurging and still commands thousands of fighters in iraq and syria. >> the intel chiefs also concluded that north korea will likely never give up its nuclear weapons. just weeks ahead of president trump's second meeting with kim jong-un. they laid out details on russia's campaign that continue dividing the u.s. using social media. though notably missing from the testimony, any mention of the border wall or security threat that mr. trump cited as a reason for the government shutdown. >> lawmakers are aiming to avert another costly government shutdown this morning. a new congressionalel try and s deal on border security funding that both president trump and democrats will support. but the clock is ticking. nbc's tracie potts joining us live from d.c. with the very latest on this. tracie, good morning. both sides more willing to compromise this time. >> reporter: not only willing,

but planning to compromise. this conference committee as it's called is made up of 9 democrats, 8 republicans. these are not the people you see meeting with president trump at the white house or speaking about the wall before cameras. these are the rank and file members who have skills negotiating and have agreed to sit down and come up with some compromise that both parties and the president can support. it's going to have to have some semblance of a wall or barrier or something to that effect. but is there some sense that they will come up with a solution to keep the government open? here's what the senate's top republican is saying. >> i'd be open to anything that we can agree on on a bipartisan basis that would make them pretty hard to occur again. i think this is an example of government dysfunction, which is -- should be embarrassing to everyone on a bipartisan basis. >> reporter: so that conference committee has its first meeting today.

it is a public meeting. we don't know if the rest will be open, or if they'll go behind closed doors to start the real negotiations. phillip? >> all right, tracie potts live for us in washington this morning. tracie, thank you. >> long-time trump advisor roger stone is due back in court on friday after pleading not guilty to charges stemming from the russia investigation. he is accused of a slew of crimes from lying to congress to witness tampering. nbc's pete williams has more. >> reporter: roger stone was surprisingly low key at federal court in washington. pushing his way past demonstrators for and against him, his lawyer entered a not guilty plea to charges of lying to congress and intimidating a witness. in a radio interview, stone blasted mueller's case. >> they know they have to take me down in order to take donald trump down. >> reporter: meantime senate democrats questioned monday's surprise comment from acting attorney general matt whitaker. >> right now the investigation is i think close to being completed. >> puts a cloud over the

investigation and, again, yesterday's comments were exactly the reason why he should have recused himself. >> reporter: but even if mueller finishes, other investigations go on. >> there is still work to be done. prosecutors in manhattan have work to do, and congress has work to do. >> thanks to pete williams for that report. >> check back in with bill. it's going to be one of those, where were you days in chicago. >> exactly. people will remember this for the rest of their lives. maybe never seeing it this cold again in some areas. we're going to see if we can get that record in chicago. right now negative 16. doesn't look like we're going to get there today. maybe still heading down to negative 20 which is extremely rare. in top 10 territory. tomorrow morning we have another chance of get that negative 27. you notice we're at negative 22 in lacrosse, minneapolis, dropped to negative 26. lowest on the board international falls negative 29 the in chicago

would be your high temperature for the day. we'll see single digits in many areas of the northeast. everyone wants to know when the warm up is coming. that january thaw is going to be quick. it's actually going to be in february. >> can't wait to hear about t. >> good thing we're almost there. >> yes. >> oscar winning actress gwyneth paltrow is heading to court over an alleged hit and run ski crash in 2016 that left a utah doctor seriously injured. he is suing paltrow after he claims she was skiing out of control and knocked him down. the suit says he suffered a brain injury, f and other serious injuries. a spokesperson for paltrow said the lawsuit is completely without merit. zander son is seeking damages in excess of $3.1 million. he accuses of actress, the ski resort and employees of negligence. none of the employees has commented. we'll be right back. now you can make any morning of the week

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el chapo. the defense called one single witness to the stand, an fbi agent. and his testimony was over before lunch. nbc's stephanie gosk has the latest. >> reporter: notorious drug trafficker joaquin el chapo guzman built his empire with deception, corruption, and violence. according to federal prosecutors. within days, a jury in brooklyn will decide his fate. the marathon trial lasted more than ten weeks. have there been any really big surprises? >> every day seems to bring a new surprise frankly. bombshell after bombshell. >> reporter: taking the stand, drug runners, assassins, cocaine king pens, a mistress, and even his personal accountant. many of whom the defense argued could not be trusted. prosecutors say the drugs were smuggled using tunnels, trucks, planes, jalapeno cans and submarines. they were used allegedly as bribe money for just about every

level of official, including mexico's former president. a witness said enrique was paid $1 million. a charge he denies. the corruption was to keep him in business. he used a mile long tunnel and motorcycle to bust out in 2015 only to be extradited and brought to the u.s. >> this spans years, multiple agencies, multiple agents. this was, you know, every facet of u.s. law enforcement, really coming together to try to bring this man to justice in the united states. >> reporter: throughout the trial, guzman's wife, a former beauty queen, has been a regular. if guzman is found guilty, he will spend the rest of his life in a federal prison. that is, unless he figures out a way to escape. stephanie gosk, nbc news, new york. >> we've seen it happen once. still ahead, bill will let us know when the brutal cold will finally break. first, a new hero on the

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men who were not on the team. one person was arrested for allegedly hitting an officer. >> a very different scenario on the hardwood here. it has to do with the luck of the irish. during the game against duke, notre dame's leprechaun mascot attempted that 94 putt across the entire court. watch, it continues to roll. we don't be know where it's going. to this point, goes right in. the fighting irish went on to lose the game. the lucky shot, got everyone tickets to the u.s. senior open practice round. >> well done. >> well done. >> best moment of that leprechaun's life. the patriots fan who never gave up hope. the dangerous cold gripping the country, but some relief is in sight. bill karins tells us when when we come back. breath. it was the last song of the night. they said i had afib. what's afib? i needed answers. my doctor and i chose xarelto® to help keep me protected from a stroke.

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so by simply adding the right ingredients... ...you can end each day crafting a perfectly delicious dinner. all right. let's talk about our january into february thaw. building warmth as we go to friday, areas of nebraska and kansas, look at dallas at 66. we need to give them a break from minneapolis all the way through chicago. look at minneapolis, you're going to jump to 39 as we go through saturday and then sunday some areas in the 70s in the plains. a big whiplash. >> bill, k ill to come, the dev one young pats fan pays off. but we also know how tough it is to keep up with your medication. that's why we're introducing a new and easy way... ...to refill, prepay and skip the line... ...or have your prescriptions delivered.

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believe it or not, despite all the winning, being a die hard patriots fan is not easy especially when you're living in falcons territory. ask bennett from georgia. he's been wearing his jersey every single day since the pats lost last year's superbowl. his loyalty paid off big time. reporter sebastian roberts from affiliate wxia has the story. >> reporter: this is this isn't a story about foot ball. it's about a 13-year-old georgia boy who never, ever gave up. >> it was hard being a patriots fan because every day, at least one kid would come up to me and, like, say something about how the patriots suck. >> reporter: that's bennett, a die-hard pats fan. >> being from new england and loving all the boston teams, i discouraged all my kids and wanted them to grow up following all of the atlanta teams. >> reporter: it didn't work. in fact, after last year's superbowl loss, bennett made a commitment. >> i didn't want to show people

that i only like the patriots when i win. >> reporter: that meant wearing his team's gear every single day. despite the bullies, the teasing and playful ribbing, here we are some 360 days later. >> whatever other people say, you shouldn't just stop what you're doing if you really like it. >> reporter: we think that type of commitment deserves a payoff, don't you? >> you shouldn't care what other people say. >> reporter: i'm about to tell bennett he's going to be our guest sports reporter for opening day. reporter for the day. >> really? i don't know what to say. >> reporter: we're off. no time to waste. >> we're in the philips arena and we're going to interview some players. >> reporter: first up, l.a. rams. >> what's it like being at the superbowl for the first time? >> it's surreal. it's a blessing. >> reporter: turns out bennett is a natural. >> what's your plan for taking down the patriots? >> i can't tell you everything because belichick might be >> reporter: that's going to be the c t. hunt. >> have you ever played madden

or any game like that? >> i did. i played my son the other day madden, i'm not very good about that game. >> reporter: the thing about being a 13-year-old reporter is that the players are really nice. the questions are arguably better. >> what's your favorite pregame meals? >> spaghetti, grapefruit. >> reporter: but remember, this isn't about foot ball. >> what's the message in here to like believing in something and wearing that nonstop? >> the patriots is an example of something that i believe in, but same thing with other people, whatever they believe in. >> reporter: bennett wants you to find your patriots. >> great job. >> reporter: in atlanta, i'm sebastian robertson. >> somewhere out thererown i je. >> i think so, too. >> thanks for watching "early today." i'm phillip mena. >> i'm frances rivera. your news continues right here. this bleach indicator test reveals which disinfectant car food surfaces. what do you do with that? like, who's going to eat that? unlike clorox clean-up, lysol daily cleanser uses three simple ingredients

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january 30th right now, taking a look right there at the golden gate bridge. not too many cars on the road but you can also see from our radar to the top right of the screen that a storm is a-comin'. thank you for starting your morning with us here on "today in the bay." i'm marcus washington. >> i'm kris sanchez in for laura garcia. i feel g talking about aorm whe midwest are blisteringly cold. >> that cold is brutal. we'll look at those temperatures as well but here we start out with some rain moving in, and ahead of that, we have some patchy, dense fog moving through the tri-valley, also in parts of the north bay. so i've been tracking that, and also this storm moving in, we can see the swirl of the clouds