hi there, everybody. i'm thomas roberts in for tamron hall. developing right now, the news nation following blizzard warnings from a massive winter storm that's threatening 91 million americans. right now crews in 22 different states are busy prepping for a blast of snow, strong winds, and bitter cold temperatures that go along with it. we take a live look in cleveland, where the snow continues to fall at this hour, but the very worst is expected to begin tonight along the eastern coastline. already today, nearly 1400 flights have been canceled nationwide, mainly in chicago, detroit, and new york. the last flight out of boston's logan airport is expected to leave around 8:30 this evening. several airlines are cancelling tomorrow's flights and are allowing fliers to rebook without those pesky fees. roads across the region are expected to be treacherous. the weather is blamed for an overturned car in maine, the one you see there, and two deadly crashes in the state of indiana. want to begin now with nbc's

sarah dallof live in new york city where forecasters are increasing their snow predictions. this is the calm before the storm. >> reporter: this is the calm before the storm, thomas. and we are getting new numbers in. we've upped from 5 to 8 inches of snow expected, now to 10 inches. crews are really trying to get ahead of this weather right now. right now they are salting the roads, this coarse, gritty mixture hopefully keeping those roads clear a little bit longer. we've got 300 vehicles out spreading that salt right now. as you can see behind me, we've got snowplows standing by, about 1,000 of them ready to go. crews say they have been training since august for a storm like this. they are prepared to take it on. meanwhile, residents are doing their own individual preparations. they're snapping up snow shovels, food, water, just those staples at the grocery stores. stores are saying they're starting to run low on some of those supplies as people hunker down and prepare to wait out this storm. now, already travelers are being affected by this.

about 500 canceled flights in this area right now. airport authorities say they are prepared to make some of those travelers their unexpected overnight guests here until the airports can get back up and running. we're going to see the damage in the morning, an expected 10 inches, as we said, of snow, as we really experience the first winter storm of 2014 and the first real test for new york's brand new mayor. he's getting no time to kind of just break into the office. he's up and running and dealing with what should be a pretty nasty storm here in new york. thomas? >> and in new york city the teachers love to get the grades back right away. so we will all be hearing about how well or how badly he did in no time flat. nbc's sarah dallof, thank you so much. we want to move to boston now. nbc's ron mott has that covered. >> reporter: the first major storm of 2014 is bearing down on the city of boston. the morning commute not so bad. it wasn't great, it wasn't awful.

but they're worried about this evening, getting home tonight and getting around tomorrow could be a real test for a lot of people. what they're expecting, depending on where you live, anywhere from 6 to 14 inches of snow. the big x-factor with this storm are strong winds, especially for folks who live down on boston's south shore. they're going to not only deal with this snow that's coming down but also those winds and storm surf, possibly flooding down that way. they're bracing for some real problems down there. hopefully we don't see widespread power outages. schools have been closed in a lot of districts today. in most districts on friday. so kids are getting a four-day weekend. some parents were grumbling about schools being closed today because they thought today they could probably get through whmo of it. this is going to be a pretty good storm. again, 6 to 14 inches depending where you live in the metro. we're hunkering down, and that's the latest from boston, thomas. back to you. >> ron, thanks so much. we want to get the forecast now from our nbc station in new york

city. wnbc meteorologist. steve, fill us in on what we're wac watching as the models have been changing. obviously that's a dramatic shift. >> it can be anywhere from 6 to 8 inches in new york city, maybe up to 10. the thing with this storm system, it's going to be so cold tonight, that we're simply going to squeeze out more snow with less water. so usually the snowfall ratio is about 10 to 1. with this one, it could be anywhere from 15 to 1 to maybe 20 to 1. the snow will be very light, very powdery, very easy to shovel, but nonetheless you're going to get a lot of it because it's going to be so cold tonight. right now we have two pieces of energy, one here, one down here. it's raining down towards the mid-atlantic coast. these storms will merge, move towards the northeast, and then overnight a coastal storm will form south of long island. that will enhance the snow and also kick up the winds. winds potentially of 40 to 50 miles an hour from philadelphia all the way up to boston. now, we do have winter storm

warnings in effect in the counties in pink, winter storm watches in effect for the counties in purple from pittsburgh through cleveland. notice how cold it is up in burlington. 10 below right now. that's the actual air temperature. this cold air will get pulled down into the storm system on the backside, so early tomorrow morning with the winds, it will feel like 20 to maybe 30 below throughout the entire northeasterly coast. so here's what we call future tracker. it's our computer model. you can see the two pieces of energy. as we head towards the evening hours, the snow starts to fill in from washington, d.c., through new york city, through hartford, all the way up to boston. the snow is very heavy. there's the rain/snow line just south of new york city. early tomorrow morning, 7:00 a.m., we're still seeing the snow from new york out towards long island, also towards boston. it's still very windy outside. and again, since the snow is so light, it's going to be blowing around, creating white-out conditions. so traveling tonight from the long island expressway, i-95, up

and down the east coast would be very, very difficult because visibilities will be so low. by tomorrow afternoon, the storm is pulling away, but it is brutally cold from washington, d.c. all the way up towards maine. snowfall totals look like this. again, new york city anywhere from 6 to 8, maybe up to 10 inches of snow. boston, a foot of a snow. portland, over a foot of snow. it's a big storm system. back to you, thomas. >> it really is. i know you guys are going to be busy in your news room there. steve, thanks for making time for me. i appreciate it. >> no problem. today, the obama administration is preparing to face the latest of challenges to the president's health care law. it has until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow to respond to this temporary injunction issued by supreme court jus sis sonia sotomayor on new year's eve. it delays implementation of the so-called birth control mandate for some catholic groups which oppose it on religious grounds. for now, at least, they don't have to cover contraception in their employee health plans. meanwhile, on this first business day of the new year, hospital, doctors, and farm sis

are starting to handle some of the 2.1 million americans who signed up so far. the concern now is that it could take time for their names to appear in the proper computer databases so claims can be appropriately processed. the administration also needs millions more to sign up before april. joining me now, our news nation political panel. gang, great to have you all here. jonathan, let me start with you. you report on politico today that the white house stands by the birth control rules. tell us what more you've learned in reference directly to justice sotomayor's injunction. >> the white house position has been they have tried very hard to strike a balance between what they believe is a woman's right to contraceptive coverage and respecting religious freedom. in this case, you've got a church-based group, this denver little sisters of the poor home for the ageing, that says even

through the system that the white house and that the administration have set up to try to do that, they still feel their religious liberty is impinged upon, even if a third party provides coverage. i think the white house is saying, look, we did everything we could. we've taken this out of your hands, put it in somebody else's hands, and they're still getting lawsuits. we'll see what the actual government's response is to justice sotomayor probably sometime tomorrow morning. >> erin, i know on our website, you've been writing about this. you were just working the phones before. what's the latest? >> the central question in these cases that the court is going to have to decide on, whether it's this case or one of the other dozens of nonprofit cases that are going through the court system right now is, is it still a violation of religious freedom to have to fill out a form to say that you want to opt out of birth control coverage? so just to clarify, these nonprofit organizations that have employees that are not catholic or do not follow catholic teaching, either universities, hospitals, nursing homes, and they are now saying

basically that they don't want to cover birth control on their insurance plan. the obama administration has said, fine, just fill out this form saying that you're not going to do that. they have then said, filling out that form is still infringing on my religious liberty. that's the question the court is going to have to figure out in the next couple of days or they're going to kick it back to the lower courts. >> seems like such an odd catch 22 that we're dealing with. that's specifically for nonprofits. nia, the president of planned parenthood signified a bigger issue that concerns for-profit companies companies. take a look. >> the big question is, can a large for-profit company, like hobby lobby, which has brought this lawsuit and the case that will be for the supreme court, because of the ceo's personal objections to birth control, can he decide to deny birth control coverage for thousands of his employees? that, to me, is a question of

what's fair? women at hobby lobby or other for-profit companies should be treated like all other women in america and make sure they can get the same health care benefits across the country no matter where they work. >> could the justices combine all of these cases, or do you see and anticipate that this will stay separate? >> that could certainly happen, but they are very separate issues here. if you look, for instance, at what hobby lobby is arguing, they're not even arguing against plain old birth control. they're arguing against something much more specific, the morning after pill, which they see is essentially an ab t abortive agent. they, along with another company, is also objecting to these rules. what was said there by cecile richards, this idea that are democrats and progressives who have been trying to paint republicans and certain groups as anti-women, are they going to sort of put this argument into this overall kind of larger debate that they've been having about war on women.

you can see her sort of alluding to that in talking about women's rights in that. but i think, you know, we'll have to wait and see what the supreme court does with both of these issues. sotomayor could either refer it to the higher court or issue a ruling on her own. >> so jonathan, how concerned do you think the white house is? obviously, women's reproductive rights, they have been an issue in this country, an evolving issue for decades. directly connected to the aca, how much of this was predictable? >> i think a lot of it was predictable. we saw these fights play out when they were constructing the law in the first place where you had pro-life democrats and also pro-life republicans arguing that religious institutions were going to have problems. at the time they were talking a lot about abortion and it comes down to contraceptive coverage. so this is something that was predictable. i think it's something that's gotten sort of outsized political attention for the amount it actually affects the underpinning of the law.

that is to say, no matter how this is resolved, the basic affordable care act is still intact. even if this is something that is overturned, this mandate for relatively small group of organizations. >> erin, it is intact. it's living and breathing. we're all living in it now. 2.1 million is the signup number. 3 million was the goal of the white house by this point. so while it's not an overall huge success out of the starting gate because of the glitches with accessibility through the website, is there a tone of this is like the little engine that could that's starting to chug along. >> i want to go back to some of the things said before. it's absolutely true this is a small part of the law, but also already in effect for at least 7 million women who are getting contraception with no co-pay. jon is right. politically it did end up being an issue that was controversial among some quote/unquote pro-life democrats. but it ended up being a winner for the white house.

so if, indeed, the supreme court says that hobby lobby, you know, should be able to opt out of contraceptive coverage for its employees, politically that's going to be really interesting because it's going to be a bunch of judges saying that some billionaire ceos can deny their low-income employees coverage of birth control. so again, when you're thinking about it, it's a huge political winner for the white house so far and democrats so far. going into 2014, that's going to be an issue to say, look at what republican-appointed judges are doing. >> again, it reaches up to the level of supreme court, to look at the constitutionality of this, whether you're the big guy is or little guy. nia, we know that with the numbers, it's certainly not been the boom out of the front gate that the white house wanted to see on this. we had on msnbc the other day one of the white house advisers on the health care law who was speaking to my colleague kristen welker, denying that the goal was 7 million signups by the end of march, saying that was a congressional -- or cbo figure out of the congressional budget

office. but to make that number or anywhere near that number by march, they need a ton more signups if we're touting now 2.1 million. >> that's right. they need a ton more signups. they're backing off the cbo numbers. usually they put faith in those cbo numbers. again, i think one of the things we need to look at here as well, 2 million have signed up. looks like they need 7 million according to cbo. how many young folks are signing up? that is really going to be a test of whether or not this thing works. those so-called young invincibles, mostly men, lower income with working class jobs, are those folks signing up. you see the white house ready to pivot and start doing more sort of personal stories about people who have signed up and people who have met with some success. on the other hand, you have republicans very much gearing up to counter those narratives of success and saying, listen, look at all of these people who have been kicked off of their insurance or now have to pay higher premiums. but the reality is we are living under obamacare. we're going to have millions of

people who are experiencing this law by getting insurance very directly. >> the cbo is like the north star when it comes to figures. >> that's right. >> people can definitively follow what the cbo says and not feel it's down party lines. >> that's right. exactly. people usually put stock in these numbers, and there is a magic number here. this idea of if there's no magic number and there's no sort of math to this, is sort of ridiculous. >> all right. thanks to all of you for joining me. soup night for all of you. go get some soup at the store. it's going to be a cold one. all right. we move on now. former first lady barbara bush remains in a houston hospital three days after she was admitted for what's being described a respiratory related problem. a spokesman says the 88-year-old is in good spirits and has been receiving visits from her husband and other family members as well. meanwhile, in a statement issued yesterday, president obama said, michelle and i send our best wishes to mrs. bush for a speedy recovery. barbara is blessed to have both

a loving supportive family by her side and a vibrant spirit we hope will have her feeling better soon. former president bill clinton also tweeted, i'll be rooting for barbara bush's full recovery while she's rooting for baylor today. all the best to her and george h.w. bush. hopefully she wasn't too upset when baylor lost in yesterday's fiesta bowl. still ahead on "news nation" -- >> here comes the helicopter to take us home. >> thanks, everyone! >> they're rescued after spending the holidays trapped on a ship near antarctica. 52 passengers have finally been flown to safety, but the journey is not over yet. plus, high times. people brave the long lines and bitter cold and the snow as colorado's legal pot industry opens for business. the big question is, how long before other states go green? looking at tax revenue that's flying into colorado. and the family of terry schiavo now working behind the scenes to help keep a 13-year-old girl who was

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so all 52 passengers on that research ship that's been trapped in the arctic ice have now been lifted to safety. the scientists and tourists on board were rescued by a chinese helicopter taken to a nearby australian ice cutter. the first air lifted passengers here are headed toward the he helicopt helicopter. >> the first of the helicopters to take us home. >> thanks, everyone! >> the rescued passengers aren't expected to arrive home until mid-january. the ship's crew, all 22 of them, are going to remain aboard the

stranded vessel until the sea ice clears. nbc's duncan golestani has more for us. >> hey, thomas. the 52 passengers were in very high spirits after being taken over to their rescue ship. there were doubts the rescue would take place because of the bad weather that's blocked attempts. blinding snow, strong winds, and fog. but finally, around midday local time, the chinese helicopter began taking groups of around a dozen from the ice next to the academic ship. they then made the ten-minute flight over the ice to a smaller boat, which then took them on to the aurora, an australian ice breaker. that journey was repeated five times until all the passengers were off. now begins the two-week journey home. they're not expected to reach australia until mid-january. that's because the aurora has to first go to resupply an arctic

base. so for these scientists, their adventure is far from over. spare a thought, though, for the crew of that russian research ship. they are staying until the ice flows allow them to maneuver out. they do have enough food on board. everyone has been incredibly upbeat. we've seen them performing songs and celebrating new year. but this is a kind of sad end to the expedition, i guess. they set off from new zealand back on november 28th and almost wrapped their scientific research trip in the arctic when they got caught in a blizzard, which froze ice in place around the ship. three attempts to reach the ship were made over the nine days they were stranded, but the ice was just too thick for the ice breakers. ten feet thick in some places. it meant an air lift was the only option for a quick rescue. finally, it happened. now the long journey home has begun. thomas? >> duncan, thanks so much. still ahead, where police found a former banker accused of faking his death to cover up a

multimillion-dollar investment scheme. wait until you hear that. plus, congress is set to reconvene on monday. senate majority leader harry reid says one of the first orders of business will be a vote to extend jobless benefits. will house republicans support that measure they opposed weeks ago? [ coughs, sneezes ] i have a big meeting when we land, but i am so stuffed up, i can't rest. [ male announcer ] nyquil cold and flu liquid gels don't unstuff your nose. they don't? alka seltzer plus night fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a decongestant. [ inhales deeply ] oh. what a relief it is.

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to glorify the murders of innocent women and men as heroes is an outrage. >> we have always known that achieving peace is a long and complicated process. it's a tough road. but this is not mission impossible. >> nbc news veteran and middle eastern correspondent martin fletcher joins me live from london. secretary kerry is expected to hold this series of meetings over the next few days. of course, prime minister benjamin netanyahu, president mahmoud abbas there as well. the goal is this interim agreement by the end of april. it really looks, those words from benjamin netanyahu, that it's going to set secretary kerry up for a hard lift ahead. >> that's absolutely right. he called it not mission impossible, but certainly a mission very hard indeed.

it's an american deadline at the end of april that doesn't get much support. they've been discussing these issues for more than 40 years. kerry is pushing, pressuring, trying to drive through the agreement. the question s if it doesn't work by the end of april, if they don't agree by the end of the american deadline, then what will america do? walk away or try to impose an agreement? that's the question now. we'll see by the end of april. most likely, that's where it's going to be. >> martin, when we look at the american deadlines, obviously we're trying to do this through the diplomatic channels and through the skilled work of secretary kerry in this, but when we think about both sides looking for the other to come into this as an honest broker, who blinks first? >> well, that's a really good question. it's all about blinking. the history of the negotiations between the israelis and palestinia palestinians, when they've been pressured by the americans or the europeans, is always to make

it look as if it was the other side that said no to the deal. this time the americans are not going for that. they want a time deal, and they're insisting on it. the fact that kerry's been ten times to israel since he became secretary of state to visit with the palestinians and the israelis is a huge investment by the american government. you know, everyone knows what the final deal is going to be. it's going to be borders based on 1967, the borders before israel captured gaza, the west bank, and east jerusalem. the palestinians are going to have to agree that not all the refugees who left for various reasons will be able to return home. you're talking about 5 million palestinians. israel, of course, is a country of only 7 million. the chance of them all going home is a nonstarter as far as the israelis are concerned. then there's other key issues like jerusalem's security. what's different this time is the americans are pushing much harder to implement the deal than they did before. so kerry said the israelis and palestinians are going to have to face very tough choices now

before the end of april. but they're very experienced at still withstanding that pressure and trying to blame the other side. so yeah, as we began saying in the beginning, kerry has really got his work cut out for him. full marks for trying. >> there sais also news on the former prime minister's condition. he suffered this debilitating stroke in 2006 and has been in a coma ever since. >> well, that's right. he's not doing well at all. he's 85 years old. he's been in a coma for eight years. the whole time his condition has been shrouded in silence while he's lying in hospital or for a brief time when he was back at his home but was then taken back to it the hospital. he's never been seen publicly since he went into that coma. his only visitors are his family and close friends who never say a word about his condition. now the fact the hospital came out and said something officially, that there's been a change for the worse, that his decline is very serious, that's, of course, very significant. by jewish tradition, when he

does pass away, when that time comes, he'll be buried within 24 hours. that's the tradition. maybe the same day or the next in what is sure to be of course a major state funeral for somebody who was an icon in israel. in his time, he was considered to be the greatest soldier that israel had. he became a very controversial figure throughout his life, but he's well respected, i think, now by all sides. i may point out that the palestinians do not agree with that assessment. >> martin fletcher in london for us. thank you, sir. i appreciate it. i want to take a peek back here at home and what's taking place on wall street after a record-breaking 2013. u.s. stocks are off to a slow start this new year. boy, did they have a solid lift getting into 2014. take a peek as we see it's a tough thursday. the dow jones down by 145 points. we're going to have more on what's behind the early decline straight ahead. plus, how speaker john boehner's showing signs he's ready to take on immigration reform, but will it look anything like the measure already passed by the

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so help may soon be on the way for more than 1.3 million americans whose unemployment benefits just expired. senate majority leader harry reid's office says the senate will hold a vote to extend the benefits on monday. passing some type of extension was his first priority in the new year. the bill is sponsored by dean helder and jack reid. it's unclear if the proposal can even get the 60 votes needed to advance. nbc's casey hunt joining me live to talk about that. casey, great to see you. happy new year, first off. explain to all of us, what is the biggest hurdle to get to that 60-vote number, especially since this is only a temporary extension, giving lawmakers more time to work on this broader bipartisan measure that they

would like to see. >> look, the biggest hurdle at this point is that republicans want this to be paid for. even this short-term extension is something that basically charges the extension to the nation's credit card. that's something republicans don't want to get on board with. that said, democrats argue on the flip side that every dollar that you spend on unemployment benefits actually puts $1.50 back into the economy, so it becomes a net positive. harry reid rarely does anything without knowing that his votes are there. so the fact that he's aggressively moving forward with this vote on monday says that it probably has a better chance. >> all right. so in that same associated press interview, reid said that raising the minimum wage would be a top priority because we've seen in the beginning of this year -- you know, now we're living in the fact that 13 states raised their minimum wage, going up at the first of the year, reminding everyone that the current minimum wage is $7.25. so how likely is it that there is an appetite for something like that being put up for a vote in the first half of 2014?

>> you've been seeing even over the course of the last few months it's been bubbling under the surface. a continued push to bring this to the forefront. it's coming from the white house. it's coming from democrats in the senate. democrats are looking to put this also on state ballots as well in an attempt to kind of cast their party as those who will help those less fortunate. so reid has signaled he's going to be pretty aggressive about this. seems all signs are pointing toward heading for a vote. i think the question is going to be how aggressively are republicans going to be willing to put their foot down and say they don't want to back this bill. >> all right. so if we shift to another big issue, kasie, that's likely to take center stage in 2014, we have john boehner signaling he may back immigration legislation. he even hired rebecca talent, who to many is known as the long-time john mccain adviser who backed broad immigration changes. we have "the new york times" reporting on it, putting it this way, saying advocates for an overhaul say the hiring as well as angry comments by mr. boehner critical of pea party opposition to the recent budget deal in congress indicates that he is

serious about revamping the immigration system despite deep reservations from conservative republicans. so how likely is it that we could finally see a political compromise here, or do you think that this is potentially a red herring and boehner's just buying cover for those that are vulnerable in the midterms in 2014? >> well, we've seen a lot of fits and starts on this. a lot of reasons to be -- for supporters, a lot of reasons to be optimistic that have been followed up with not a lot of action. but that said, boehner is putting his money where his mouth is with this. his office has signaled that while they're not interested in doing a comprehensive bill the way the senate did, they might be willing to move piece by piece on something like this. it could be that this will make democrats have the more difficult decision to make if we deal with this issue in the next six months. they're going to have to figure out whether or not they're willing to sacrifices a path to citizenship for all undocumented immigrants in exchange for maybe a more limited path for just the dreamers or other elements of immigration reform that they've been pushing for.

>> all right. kasie, thanks so much. >> thanks, thomas. in just the last hour, california's supreme court issued a decision on whether to grant a law license to an undocumented immigrant who graduated law school, passed the bar, and has been fighting to practice law. we're going to bring you the very latest on the details next. first, a live look from boston, where it's really slow going on the roads. careful going for so many. we're still tracking this massive winter storm. 22 states now being threatened, up to 100 million people could be affected in the northeast and midwest. keep it locked in here to msnbc for the latest.

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i've got a big date, but my sinuses are acting up. it's time for advil cold and sinus. [ male announcer ] truth is that won't relieve all your symptoms. new alka seltzer plus-d relieves more symptoms than any other behind the counter liquid gel. oh what a relief it is. all right. so on wall street today, stocks are taking a hit on the first day of trading into the new year. as we take a peek at what the dow jones is doing, we're watching the market boards, red arrows with the dow jones down by 130 points. the s&p down 16 points. the nasdaq down by almost 37 points. today's slide comes after the stock market closed out 2013 at

record highs, posting the biggest year-to-year gains since the mid-1990s. joining me now with today's news and what we can expect in the forecast this year, cnbc's tyler math son. good to see you, my friend. explain why we're seeing the selloff. obviously there's been great liftoff closing out of 2013. was this expected? >> i think in part it was to be expected, that we would have a little bit of a selloff. whether today is the beginning of something more enduring, a more lasting selloff or not, remains obviously to be seen. after the kind of close to 2013 that we had where the s&p 500 was up about 30%, the dow up about 26%, and roughly half of both of those indexes set all-time highs. the individual stocks in those indexes set all-time highs last year. you would expect maybe to see things slow just a little bit. so this may be the pause that refreshes the start of something where the market goes down a little bit. but most market forecasters we talk to here at cnbc think that

the u.s. market will have a pretty good year, nothing probably approaching that 30% gain of last year, but a pretty good year because the economy, thomas, is getting a little better. >> again, we haven't seen this since the '90s. we're in this role right now. how does the beginning weeks, tyler, are the indications of something like this in the new year and in the first quarter sort of lay out the rest of the year, or is it just to be -- if things can stay above 16,000, everybody will be happy? >> absolutely people would be happy at that level. if you get 6%, 7%, 8% gain this year, as many forecasters expect, take it and be very happy that's what you got. you'll hear over the next few days, thomas, all kinds of numerology. if the market is up the first three trading days of the year, then it's a good year. if it's down the first six trading days, it's a bad year. i say, and jim cramer of cnbc and the noted former hedge fund manager, says play past all of

that. what really matters are not those kinds of numerical coincidences but what individual stocks and mutual funds you have in your portfolio. are they commensurate with your sort of appetite for risk, and is your portfolio balanced? which is to say you don't have all your eggs in one basket. if you're doing that, you don't really care about these little sort of statistics about how the dow does in the month of january and so forth. >> it's always fun to try to figure it out though. >> sure, it is. absolutely. i guarantee you we'll be doing it. >> i know you will. we appreciate you trying to figure it out. thank you. so the ongoing fight to keep a 13-year-old californian on life support tops our look at stories around news nation today. the california department of public health is investigating children's hospital oakland and its handling of jahi mcmath's case. her family is fighting to get her transferred to a facility in new york before a january 7th deadline that's been set by a judge. however, the hospital which has declared brain dead is refusing

to insert a tracheotomy tube needed for her transfer. mean while, the terry schiavo network is working to help her family. her case made national headlines. a former banker accused of faking his own death to cover up a multimillion-dollar theft appeared before a judge this morning. the 47-year-old was arrested on tuesday during a traffic stop in georgia. he had disappeared in 2012 after prosecutors say he moved about $21 million to hide his thefts and losses from investors. now they've got him. still ahead here on "news nation" -- >> we're making history. nobody else is going to be able to say this. think about this. >> colorado, america's new cannabis capital. the cold weather and snow wasn't enough to keep people away from opening day. so what do you think of legal marijuana sales? it's our "news nation" gut check. this is kevin. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for him, he's agreed to give it up. that's today?

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all right. so there is a lot going on today. here's some of the things we thought you should know about. the california supreme court has granted a law license to sergio garcia, an undocumented immigrant who attended law school and passed the state bar exam on his first try. the obama administration had opposed the move because of a 1996 law that forbids people living in the country illegally from receiving professional licenses. garcia, who arrived in california 20 years ago to pick almonds with his father, says he is, quote, speechless, tired, and relieved and is glad this ordeal is over. a woman from outside of chicago got a real surprise gift, and it came from the obama family. but this gift, it wasn't meant for her. it was meant for sasha and malia's godmother, known as mama k. elaine church told "today" that the gift came inside a christmas package sent by her uncle. she said the box was apparently opened and repackaged by the post office and arrived a week late. she also said she's going to forward that gift on to the proper recipient.

and toronto mayor rob ford is officially running for a second term. the embattled mayor, who was stripped of most of his powers after he admitted to spoking crack while in a drunken stupor, filed paperwork this morning. he was the first person to register for the city's election in october. those are just some of the things we thought you should know. it's time now for the "news nation" gut check. today, colorado's marijuana shops are open for a second day of retail business. >> welcome, welcome. you are number one. >> thousands of customers waited for hours in inclement weather yesterday as nearly 40 licensed stores began the world's first legal recreational marijuana sales. shop owners believe they made more than $1 million wednesday alone. the state's very first customer was iraq war vet. he uses marijuana to help cope with ptsd. other users traveled across the country to shop, while opponents, they remain

concerned. >> i've never been more happy to pay a tax in my entire life. >> any strain, which means i can get top-shelf, best they got, for $25. >> i think we're inviting all sorts of people, unsavory people that want to be in the drug business. >> okay. so let's talk more about this. joining me now, we have ryan grim from "the huffington post," and david beanstock, the vice media reporter and former west coast editor of "high times" magazine. it's good to have you with me. obviously a lot of eyes are on colorado for a lot of political reasons and people looking at the tax revenue. david, you joined the enthusiasts. you purchased legal marijuana. so explain to us what the experience was like as somebody who was a consumer who was putting those store owners to the test. >> it was a fantastic day in colorado. i have to say, not just if you love cannabis like i do. it's also a fantastic day if you hate injustice and if you hate

institutional racism and this terrible system we've created and subje gaited people to for far too long. to see the beginning of the end of that happening in colorado and to know that my purchase was going to responsible business people and not into the black market was a dream come true. i spent the night and part of the early morning waiting in line with people, and the communal feeling of just finally being accepted for using this substance that's safer than alcohol and to be treated like a customer instead of a criminal, it's just fantastic. that feeling is only going to spread. people are going to realize that using marijuana is not a big deal, but it can be a big deal to states that have the foresight to be a part of this. >> when you talk about tax revenue potentially, a lot of states are interested in that. marijuana sales remain illegal under federal law. colorado prohibits buyers from transporting marijuana across state lines. however, right now wyoming

sheriffs are stationed at the border they have with colorado looking for drivers that are doing just that. so when we look at the impacts behind what this means to neighboring states, there is concern for how this spills over and trickles around. >> well, other states are going to be watching this extremely closely. that's why it's a good thing that colorado and washington, too, which will have its system go into place in a couple months is taking this so seriously. what people have to realize is that even though it's legal in colorado today doesn't mean it's here for good. it's not like something like gay marriage, for instance, where when you legalize it, then you have, you know, people get married, people go to weddings, people give gifts, they have children. it's kind of a self-fulfilling thing. the good feeds on the good. whereas, you know, with legal marijuana, you're going to continue to have, you know, some

who don't want shops in their neighborhood. you're going to have drug warriors who are clinging to the past that want to push back on it and will look for any opening to try to roll it back. so it's a good thing that colorado's going this very methodically. i think the comparison to black friday is pretty revealing. david can talk more about that, but it was a very peaceful gathering, despite these long lines and these long hours and the high prices people had to pay. >> david, what would you say to people that would look at marijuana and be concerned about what their kids might think about it or as some people have described it, as a gateway into the possibility of other drugs. obviously, you have a different respect for what marijuana means. what would you say to parents out there that might be concerned about what it really means and tougher conversations that need to be had about recreational marijuana use? >> i would say be honest. be honest with yourself about the fact that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol, a substance that has dangers.

but we tried prohibition when it came to alcohol, and it didn't work. the same thing is true of marijuana. but that said, if you don't want your children to use marijuana, that's a conversation to have with them. and marijuana is still illegal for children and no one's talking about changing that. but to say that i, as a responsible adult, can't use marijuana in my home because your children might use it illegally, that's just a nonsense argument. and i can respect people's concern because they've been subjugated to all this propaganda about marijuana. >> it's definitely a different tone with croolorado taking on e legalization on it. so two test states we'll be watching as a country. gentlemen, we have to leave it there. david and ryan, thanks so much. what does your gut tell you? do you support legal retail

sales of marijuana? go to newsnation.msnbc.com. cast your vote there. that's going to do it for this edition of "news nation." stick around. "the cycle" comes your way next. s get so big? let me just put this away. ♪ could you teach our kids that trick? [ male announcer ] by not acting that way. it's how edward jones makes sense of investing.

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alka seltzer plus night fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a decongestant. [ inhales deeply ] oh. what a relief it is. here is what everyone is talking about. bracing for impact. the first flakes are already falling here in new york, but the first storm of 2014 is no flake. i'm abby huntsman. i came back from the beach for this, really? eye of the storm. 1.3 million unemployed americans have been left in the cold by congress. is there any hope for them when winter break ends? a cloud of uncertainty today over the family of a california teen declared dead after routine surgery. stunning new accusations from that family against the hospital, claiming doctors are trying to starve her and the impossible question, who should get to make the final decision when the patient can't? all that,