>> the governors of new york and new jersey have declared states of emergency. the other big problem, power outages from icing and right now pennsylvania is hardest hit with more than 650,000 customers affected. new jersey, about 90,000 there are without power. nbc's ron mott is live in westminster, massachusetts. ron, i see you've got a lot of the white fluffy stuff. >> vastly improved from this morning. most of the roads now have been plowed. you can see out the front window, there have been snow plows everywhere. they are trying to get salt down, as well. precipitation, very light. as you can see, very little rainfall. sleet, freezing rain earlier this morning. >> it is expected to disappear in this snow by the end of the day. i'm going to have to deduct. it said nine inches or so, i'm going to deduct a couple of inches from the ground last night, unofficially, seven,

seven and a half inches. we're expected to go upwards of 14 inches here. on top of that, richard, issues because there's more moisture in the snow, that's what you don't want because it hangs on tree branches and limbs and those come down on to power lines. don't know the power situation south of us here, but this is in good shape this way. a lot of folks out of school so parents are home, as well, which means a lot of the traffic are snow crews, which is great, because the evening commute is expected to be a lot easier and better for travelers than we saw this morning. again, this is the kind of snow that you like here. there's a ski resort about three or four miles from here. they are reporting some happy customers up there and they are expecting a good weekend, especially considering there may be another system towards the end of this week. good business for them, not so good for others. back to you. >> ron mott, not as cold as it was last time. you were out in the last storm.

>> yeah, exactly. we're probably about 26, 27 degrees right now. richard, unlike we saw three or four weeks ago in boston where it was just absolutely brutal, but it did at least up north here, we got the fortune, good fortune, rather, of getting that dry, flakey snow, which is the best snow to get, basically. >> ron mott might be jumping into that soft stuff shortly. thank you very much. appreciate it, my friend. let's go 900 miles west to reynolds wolf, who is live in indianapolis, indiana, with more cooler there maybe perhaps. huh, my friend? >> i got to tell you, we've been dealing with interesting weather. we got here yesterday afternoon and there really wasn't a whole lot. you had snow on the ground from earlier snowstorms, but there really wasn't anything big happening, then it did happen. we had the snow that intensified during the late afternoon, the evening hours, overnight. by the time morning came around, we had 7.1 inches of snowfall here in the city, suburbs and north more, farther south areas,

not quite as much. bloomington had a dusting of snow, freezing rain, some sleet, but this is what we've been dealing with today. got to tell you, preparedness is the key and they were certainly prepared here in the great state. the governor put out an order for 800 vehicles to go out, snow plows, salt spreaders and they made nice conditions on the roadways. no major problems for the time being, but to be on the safe side, schools in the city and surrounding area are closed, government offices remain open. many of the cars and trucks we've seen this morning headed off in that direction. we are expecting the snow to be done by midday, but get this, the deep freeze is staying put. we're going to have temperatures below the freezing point all the way through next thursday, so the snow we have on the ground, not going anywhere. guys, back to you in the studio. >> thank you so much. reynolds wolf live in indianapolis. let's bring in bill karins.

bill, looking at the map behind you, that's the wind chill. >> now our attention's going to focus with what these people have to deal with next. as we mention, latest number up to 700,000 people in pennsylvania without power. there's a couple thousand people in arkansas and here and there throughout much of kentucky, also new jersey's got about 100,000 people and this cold air mass is following this storm. just imagine, middle of winter, you lose power, then it's going to get very cold. a lot of people if you don't sleep next to the fireplace or don't have one, have to leave their houses. that's a lot of people waiting for power to get turned back on. think of the power crews, as well, wind chills in the single digits trying to put power lines back up, not fun. still about 70 million people under the winter storm warnings. they are starting to end here. a lot of the storm is over with new york city westward, kansas city, about nine inches, indianapolis seven, hartford six, new york city about four before it turned to sleet and

ice. bost boston, that's been going up. i'm waiting for the new update, but you'll probably end up around six. the white and blue is the snow. it's confined now, the sleet and freezing rain is now providence southwards. so that has improved. by the time the storm ends, 11:00 through the noon hour here and mid afternoon, the storm is exiting. the last thing, we keep talking about three storms in one week, this one looks weaker as we go through sunday and monday z. not look like a nor'easter. one weaker storm will be easily should be able to deal with that. >> thanks so much, bill karins. here's a live look, that area, if you take a look at it, make sure you stay with us for the latest on conditions throughout the northeast. we'll have a live report at new jersey in a half hour. does obamacare kill millions of jobs? testifying on questions just like that right now, the house

budget committee is drilling down on the tuesday release of a report on the economic impact of the affordable care act. reactions have been strong from the left and the right. >> cbo also says that government policies, especially the president's health care law, are discouraging work. washington is making this problem worse. >> i have to say, this is an example of when one misinterpretation gets out of the box early and goes around the world, it takes the truth an awful long time to catch up. >> the effect is principally on the labor supply of lower wage workers, and the reason is, what the affordable care act does is provide subsidies focused on lower and lower middle income people to buy health insurance. these subsidies, of course, make those lower income people better off. >> and that cbo report is packed with data. three of the key issues, though, the analysis found, first off, labor supply, specific to that, cbo saying it will shrink by the

equivalent by 2 million workers, this due to taxpayers deciding whether to work or not, given the cost of health care. the second key issue, deficit impact, the federal deficit projections go up and down. this year's deficit will be $514 billion, which is 10% lower than originally estimated, but by 2023, deficits are expected to total 7.3 trillion, a trillion more than earlier projected. and the third key issue, obamacare signups, the cbo predicts a million less signups than originally predicted by 2014, but by 2015, 13 million will have signed up and by 2017 24 million will be enrolled in health care. let's bring in our agenda panel, suzy khimm is a national correspondent for msnbc.com. corey dade is a contributing editor at "the root," and igor volsky. susie, i'll start with you,

labor supply shrinking by the equivalent of 2.3 million full-time workers. fox news called that 2.3 million jobs, while the daily caller quickly called them job cuts. republican senator lindsey graham joined in, too, on this, tweeting a similar headline, but the white house is cautioning those departures are more the result of worker flexibility to make that choice to leave their jobs and still have health insurance. suzy, with all that out there, who's got it right? >> so, to say that the takeaway from the cbo report is that obamacare is killing 2 million jobs, it's handing out 2 million pink slips, as senate republicans put out in a release is entirely inaccurate. these are not jobs that are being destroyed or dismantled, people being fired because of obamacare. also it is not the case that 2 million people are leaving the workforce, that they are just giving up, stopping work because they are just going to get free government health care, all this

sort of free stuff from taxpayers. what's happening is that people are both reducing the number of hours that they are going to work, so they are going to go from full time to part-time workers and there are going to be some people who are going to leave the labor force entirely. maybe they are retiring early, things like that, but the cbo report points out most people are going to be staying in the labor force, just the number of hours they are going to be working is going to be reduced to the equivalent of that 2.3 million figure that you're saying. that's what's actually happening here. >> if they can do less but still have health care, they are going to do that and that makes sense. basically all of us do that, for instance, when we buy food. igor, talk to me about the labor supply that we're talking about, plus something called job lock and i want to share something john mccain said, job lock reduces opportunities for american workers because they often pass up new jobs for fear of losing their health care coverage. he said that back in 2008.

>> that's really one of the great ironies how republicans are framing this. the truth is, obamacare is finally giving conservative and republicans what they've always asked for, which is giving people more freedom, more flexibility so that your insurance isn't just tied to your job, it's portable, you can take it anywhere you want. in fact, paul ryan said in october of 2009 that he wants to eliminate this job lock to make sure people can, as suzy said, retire early or as a lot of social conservatives say, so that mothers and fathers can leave the workforce and raise a family if they want. so this is about really making sure that people who want to work can work, but people who feel like they don't, like they want to retire early or they want to raise a family, can do that as well and you're not working just for that health care coverage. >> all right. i want to move on to the second key issue, that is the deficit. the cbo report projecting that the federal deficit will fall to

the lowest in president obama's time in office but slower economic growth will increase deficits the next decade by $1 trillion, largely because of reduced labor force participation. corey, is this about people working less, therefore, spending less? >> well, richard, for starters, the aging baby boom population and the quicker they can get out of the job market, the faster the new generation of millennials can enter the job market, and the millennials are the ones hit hardest by this economy. they are not able to find sustaining jobs. i think the bigger issue also is that entitlement spending is going to become 100% of the gdp, 100%, by the year 2038. and so you have social security, you have medicare, and you also have the issue of taxes. so the democrats don't want to touch social security and medicare, the republicans don't want to address taxes and the reality that we will have to raise taxes, and that is

actually the biggest problem that we should be talking about with this report. that's the big worry. so we really can't be distracted by this part about obamacare. that's the okie doke. >> in your article on msnbc.com, you cite the cbo saying, "the lower growth primarily reflects the aging of the population and the leveling off of the labor force participation rate of women in their prime working years." suzy, is this issue of tackling the long-term aging problem on washington's radar then when you talk about women specifically? >> well, i think in terms of women's labor force participation, you're talking about women who drop out of the labor force to raise children, to have families, that sort of thing. these are huge long-term problems. economists are still trying to figure out why labor force participation has been dropping and it raises a legitimate concern because if we have fewer people in the workforce and a

growing sort of aging population, how are we going to get the revenues from social security taxes and other things to actually support the entitlement programs that we have? so these are very broad concerns that are legitimate. the aca points out the fact that labor force participation will be one factor that the aca could effect, but it's really just one piece of this much broader question that lawmakers for now have decided they really don't have the political will and consensus to actually tackle. >> okay. i want to move on to the third major part of the report, according to it, the problems with healthcare.gov, the cbo also reporting their estimating signups will catch up to previous estimates, 13 million by 2015, 24 million by 2017. igor, to you, there's also some good news and perhaps they look at some of these numbers here for obamacare in this report. what stood out to you? >> well, i think that number of

people not being able to sign up because of the website troubles is a problem, certainly, but it's really up to the administration now to make up for the early bumpy rollout. this is about targeting the uninsured in states, targeting young people, bringing them in, and i think if they do that now that the website's fixed and people are getting coverage, they can, in fact, meet those cbo goals, so i think it's a projection, but if you really ramp up that enrollment campaign, you can bring those people back. >> finishing off with you here, corey, as we look to the midterm elections in 2014, is this going to be the battle drum pounded upon by the republicans, do you expect? >> oh, absolutely. they have forsaken everything else, the republicans have, and decided they are going to run on the problems with obamacare, specifically the rollout, and i think the unfortunate part of it is, the democrats and the administration have been on the losing end of this messaging for

basically three years running now. we won't be able to see the real benefits of obamacare, at least average americans will, for the next couple of years until really the bugs get worked out on the state exchange level and with the website. >> thank you so much, corey dade. suzy khimm and igor volsky for your time today. cvs has decided it will not sell a product that's been on its shelves for decades and it's cost them about $2 billion a year. the president and first lady even weighing in on this choice. plus, disturbing allegations about what happened onboard justin bieber's plane when it was recently searched by authorities. authorities exclusively telling nbc news investigative reporter jeff rossen what bieber did in the air could be dangerous. immigration reform will not be happening any time soon. i'll talk to congressman raul

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a bold and surprising decision this morning from the nation's largest drugstore chain, cvs saying it cannot justify selling cigarettes anymore as the company continues to expand its health care business. in october, cvs plans to pull all tobacco products from its shelves, a decision that will cost the company $2 billion a year in sales. president obama releasing a statement saying, "today's decision will help my administration's efforts to reduce tobacco-related deaths, as well as bring down health care costs." and the first lady tweeted out, "thanks, cvs we can all breathe easier and live healthier." cvs stops sales of tobacco

products, should other drugstores follow suit? weigh in on facebook or twitter. so, you know, as we get deeper into the buildup to 2014 and the midterms, the fate of immigration reform on capitol hill appears increasingly uncertain. senate minority leader mitch mcconnell had this to say on tuesday about the issue. >> i think we have a sort of ir resolvable conflict here. the senate insists on comprehensive, the house says it won't go to conference with a senate on comprehensive and wants to look at a step-by-step. i don't see how you get to an outcome this year with the two bodies in such a different place. >> joining me now to talk about the future of immigration reform as we look at this year and the following year, rahul grijalva. thank you so much for being with us, representative. when you look at what's there, as you're on the hill there, you look across the aisle and see boehner and ryan, the leadership moving towards some progress, you got tea party members working against that, and now

you have senate republicans, at least mitch mcconnell with negative foreshadowing, shall we say. are you pessimistic this is going to happen this year, or even before 2016? >> i want to be and i need to be optimistic that we're going to make some movement on something that begins to address the dire circumstances for many families, the workforce demands, the economic reality of the issue of immigration reform. i continue to be optimistic, but, you know, it is becoming a little bit of a political tease on the part of house republicans and senate minority leader saying we want to, but we can't. in some instances we don't trust the president, in other instances, is a citizenship path, legalization path, what is it, so we continue to see these delaying tactics that i think do not help the question at all. >> we've got the speaker who came out with that one-page structure on perhaps a step forward. i want to get your opinion on

it. first of all, do you support it, and do you believe that they are actually going to try to implement that? >> in the process of consultation and compromise at this point, you know, as i've said, there's more questions than answers in the one page, but if the intention of the republican conference and the majority in the house is to make some movement toward addressing family unification, the workforce issue, the economic issue, the human toll issue, then if that's the framework and guidelines they want to work with, let's sit down and make that situation better. but at this point, it is just a sheet of paper with more questions than answers. >> it looks like you're looking at a good cop, bad cop, and something in between as well when you're dealing with on the other side. i want to talk about the cbo report, which you're very familiar with here, the cbo director testifying on capitol hill right now, which is where we started the hour. take away here, is the u.s. economy slowing down, due to baby boomers retiring and

shrinking and the labor force shrinking with them, but passing the reform would add millions of jobs and that's been the estimation so far. does the cbo report help your argument? >> you know, it's kind of interesting, cbo report on the affordable care act, you know, the republican leadership is using that like a bludgeon to talk about deficit and job losses. that's not really what the report said, but on the other hand, on immigration is that $1 trillion reduction in the deficit and up to 2 to 3 million jobs created across this country would be the benefit of comprehensive immigration reform. the fact it's falling on deaf ears in the republican leadership leads one to wonder if the cbo report is a political convenience, on the other because it isn't a political convenience, doesn't support any arguments they have against immigration, they don't talk about it. >> do you believe that the cbo report, because now that it gives some ammo to those who are against the affordable care act, that that will now be the main

message that you'll hear from republicans and, therefore, a way of averting any progress on immigration reform? >> unfortunately, i suspect that this cbo report, you know, doesn't entirely -- the spin is different the republicans are using, that's not what it says. it's going to become a political bludgeon for the next month or two. the cbo report said the opposite, it is a benefit to the economy, to jobs, and deficit reduction, yet we don't hear a peep from them on that. >> thank you so much, congressman raul grijalva for your time today. >> thank you. police make four arrests, we'll have the latest. plus -- >> your assertion that all the animals were vegetarians before they got on the ark, that's really remarkable. i have not spent a lot of -- >> so what should be believed, science or the bible when it comes to how we got here? more from last night's debate in just a few minutes.

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booking.com booking.yeah! one of america's most popular athletes is taking a step back in sochi. why shaun white is dropping out of one of his events. and from shaun white we go to a whiteout. live look at conditions in the boston area. millions of folks there are being affected from the missouri valley to maine, we have a live update next. hey guys! sorry we're late. did you run into traffic?

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we're following the massive storm, winter storm warnings are in place all the way from the missouri valley, to maine. it's affecting some 77 million americans in the country. let's go to nbc's ron allen driving right now in chatham, new jersey, and ron, be careful, first of all, my friend. but how are the roads?

>> well, richard, they've gotten a lot better as the day has gone on. we woke up this morning, there was several inches of snow on the ground. now as you can see, we're on a highway. >> okay. ron allen there on the road in chatham, new jersey. looks like we did lose his audio, but we have his video and can get a sense there the roads, got some blacktop, however, it is expected to be a little bit of an issue for the rest of the day. and if we are able to rejoin ron, of course, we'll get that to him. the question, 6,000 or several billion years. it's the battle between the bible and science. first of its kind debate that took place last night between one of the country's most ardent defenders of creationism and a renowned science educator, bill nye, tv's science guy took the stage next to ken ham inside the creation museum, which ham founded. the two, which debated the age of the universe and evolution,

found little common ground. >> the bottom line is that as a christian, i have a foundation, but as a christian, i would ask bill a question, what would change your mind? i mean, you said even if you came to faith, you'd never give up believing in billions of years. >> we would need one piece of evidence, a fossil that swam from one layer to another, the evidence that the universe is not expanding, the evidence that the stars appear to be far away, but they are not. >> those are basically the ways the arguments went. joining me now, an associate science editor for "the huffington post" who watched it all. what did this debate with these two guys there, what did they actually accomplish? >> you know, it's interesting, the debate started off as being billed as something just about evolution, but it turned out to be a debate of more science

versus creationism and seems nothing was really accomplished, so the highlights were kind of what we have heard before in these discussions, as you mentioned, they discussed the age of the earth. they discussed noah's ark, what was before the big bang, but there seems to have been no final resolution that we saw. >> okay, so they had their prepared remarks and they pretty much went at it at the pace that we just showed, pretty deliberate, maybe not the most energet energetic, some might say. who won? >> right, exactly. so it's interesting, we kind of followed the public response via social media, and a lot of people were definitely in support of bill nye, but, you know, when the debate started, he was given some criticism from the science community, and people were saying that just by simply giving a platform to ken ham and to this viewpoint of creationism, that automatically

kind of gave them the win by legitimizing their stance. so it's really interesting how different people are responding to this debate. >> jacqueline, did -- >> a lot of people were -- >> did anybody say, hey, can't we have both? >> a lot of people said, hey, can't we have both. and that was really surprising. on social media, there were a lot of people that were asking, well, why can't we -- why does religion and science always have to be at odds, and there were even a lot of pastors and people who did say, hey, i'm christian and ken ham doesn't speak for me, you know, i do have a different stance than him and his viewpoints are a little extreme, so it was really interesting, because the public is saying, hey, can't we have both, but it seems like the debate was saying otherwise. >> you might be familiar with this poll here, jacqueline, it was put out by pugh last spring. it found 60% of americans believe humans evolved over time.

33% reject that theory of evolution according to pugh. so really any surprise here that the folks that you were seeing on social media at least favored bill nye's performance in the debate and favored his argument? >> exactly. i mean, like you said, the polls showed the public, the majority of the public, does say, hey, evolution is a scientific fact here. what's even more interesting when you look at the numbers from a political standpoint, i believe the same survey, the same poll reveals that 67% of democrats will say, hey, evolution is a scientific fact, and then i think it was 43% of republicans had the other viewpoint. so you see, you know, a divide politically, as well, but the majority, like you said, 60% are essentially on bill nye's side. >> that might be why, based on what you discussed, 800,000 votes had registered to watch that. you were one of them. jacqueline howard from "the

huffington post," thank you. here's a look at some of the stories topping the news now. authorities arrested three men and one woman possibly linked to the drugs found in philip seymour hoffman's apartment. first students, now instructors accused in a military exam cheating scandal. 30 senior instructors have been suspended for allegedly cheating on exams that certified them to teach. the suspension has been lifted for controversial ritchie incognito who was sidelined last year after accusations he bullied teammate jonathan martin. incognito tweeted the news, along with thanks to family and friends for their support. and a u.n. watch dog report demanding the vatican remove all clergy who are known or suspected abusers. the church has not acknowledged the extent of crimes committed and has not done enough to address child sex abuse.

today's producer pick comes to us from line producer tracy mitchell. one of the red hot chili peppers is defending his band's choice not to perform their music live during the super bowl half-time show. what do we mean? the basis known as flea said while the vocals would be live, their instruments would not be. he says the band was okay with that because they understood the nfl did not want to risk the show being botched by bad sound. you can read more of flea's explanation by heading to my facebook page. hey linda! what are you guys doing? having some fiber! with new phillips' fiber good gummies. they're fruity delicious!

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olympic torch just arriving in sochi and with the games just over a day away now, two-time gold medalist shaun white, he's announcing he will not compete in the new slopestyle event. in a statement to nbc, he said this, quote, after much deliberation with my team, i have made the decision to focus solely on trying to bring home the third straight gold medal in halfpipe for team usa. the difficult decision to forego slopestyle is not one i take lightly as i know how much effort everyone has put into holding the event for the first time in history, the history i planned on being a part of. end quote. brian, you talked to shaun white yesterday before he made this decision. we got that statement. did you get any sense of that, that he was perhaps being careful or would be unable to do the slopestyle? >> well, he gave no indication he would pull out, even as late as the news conference for the halfpipe this morning, but you have to be clear on a few

things, he did not like the course. on monday, pretty much everyone did not like the course, but they made a lot of improvements and the only american to complain when i was up there was shaun white. it's not just his wrist, he's got a bad ankle, bad shoulder, even a black eye from a pretty nasty spill. those of you at home who don't know shaun white, well, he's a two-time olympic gold medalist in the halfpipe, that's what he's known for. if he wins a third gold medal, he'll be considered a winter olympic legend and protecting that brand, which is a multimillion brand moved to be so much more important. even though he wanted to do this event, qualifiers begin tomorrow, it was just too much at stake and he admitted even before he pulled out officially this morning that the halfpipe is more important to him. >> yeah, brian, he's an icon. again, what's his name again, flying tomato? >> he doesn't like that anymore. he cut off all the hair, but he is a businessman now and he has a brand.

when he talks about his team, i think he's referring to his team of advisers than the u.s. olympic team. >> tell me about the slopestyle very quickly. is it dangerous and why didn't other competitors like this? >> first of all, i mean, i didn't know much about it before i got here, richard, to cover it. it's an awesome event, even with him out of it. yeah, it's dangerous. these jumps are gigantic and they go what seems like 100 feet in the air, but the thing i learned, it's unlike any other sport. they come to these events on mondays and do these all year long and the course is always a little different, needs to be adjusted. it's tons and tons of snow that need to be moved around with precise geometry and what they do is meet after the first couple days with the riders and builders and say, well, how do you make it safer, more fun? >> brian, we're showing the video you shot, by the way. i don't know how many feet in the air they are going, but -- >> you can't get justice unless

you're there. they work to make the course better and every rider with the exception of shaun said it got better. sometimes they'd go two days down the slope without trying a jump, so nobody wants these athletes to be in jeopardy and be unsafe, but you know what, it is the biggest jumps these guys have had and some just said to me, it's the olympics, it should be the toughest, but no one wants it to be dangerous. >> you know, shaun white being one of the older competitors now at 27, he didn't compete in the x-games, this is all funny stuff to you and me, but it is old by snowboarder standards, you know, he's taking it carefully. so you also took more than pictures, you've, of course, been observing the preparations there in sochi. and we've got some pictures where when i say preparations, they may not quite be there yet. >> well, i mean, richard, all the anecdotes you're reading online, some people think they are overblown, they are true for a lot of people. i actually talked to a buddy of mine who works for the u.s.

o.c., he's in his third hotel, he walked into the first one, it was a room that was dark except work lights and a security guard. his second hotel was double booked. he had to spend the night in a room with someone he didn't know. the venues themselves, even though they might not have aesthetics behind the scenes, they seem to be all done. i must be honest here, i think the russians want to make sure the games go off without any security issues and without the athletes having any problems and there is a ton of inconveniences. there's stuff everywhere that's not done, but now they are focusing on making sure the events are in place and they'll deal with it. as an american, it's a different experience. >> they are making me go. 30 seconds, talk about toilets and security. >> some people's toilets are funky, some people have water that's brown and some people have to sit like this in their toilet, but i think that's more of the fun stuff for the internet. in terms of security, i will

tell you, sochi feels safe. there are police presence everywhere, undercover, military, the most fascinating thing coming up into the mountains where they have military outposts camouflaged like hunting blinds all the way through. not like one or two, every quarter mile. this place is absolutely blanketed with security. >> great stuff. of course, talking about the toilets where there's two side-by-side with no separator in between. >> i don't have that. i don't have that. >> you don't, but we've been seeing pictures in the west. brian shactman, thank you so much. great stuff as always. in sochi, russia. stay tuned to the networks of nbc, the 2014 olympics begin tomorrow. the opening ceremony takes place this friday, of course, you can watch it right here with us. don't smoke them if you've got them on capitol hill. it's time for the poly side bar. several lawmakers want a ban of electronic cigarettes on capitol grounds, say there's no.

while banned, some members, including house speaker john boehner smoke in their offices. "house of cards "coming back for a third season, kevin spacey is a ruthless congressman trying to scheme his way into the white house. the first season grabbed nine emmy and four golden globe nominations. secretary of state john kerry back on twitter, he wrote yesterday, it only took a year, but state department finally let me have my own twitter account, #jktweetsagain. democrat harry reid and republican john mccain announcing their support of a government-funded study on brain injuries caused by boxing. both were amateur boxers as young men and reid told reporters yesterday mccain still has that fighting spirit. >> we are friends. we have so much respect for each other. it was just a month or two ago

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well, we asked and you answered. questions, cvs stops sales of tobacco products, should other stores follow suit? this is a great move, i think most consumers would prefer this. on facebook also, andy saying i wouldn't choose macy's over target because one sells cigarettes and the other does not. david says, this is the right choice. if they are truly showing concern about their customers' well-being. thank you all of you who did pipe in on twitter and facebook. democratic senator mark warner is not a believer, evidently. he says he's onboard with the white house petition calling for the canadian born pop star to be deported. he said as a father with daughters, "is there some place

i can sign." he later tweeted his support for the petition, which has almost 250,000 signatures. no response yet from the white house on that. exclusive new details this morning about what really happened aboard justin bieber's private plane when it was searched by authorities just before the super bowl, including allegations of harassing the crew. today national correspondent jeff rossen joins us live with more of those details. good to see you, jeff. >> good to see you, richard. law enforcement sources are telling nbc news this wasn't just some bratty behavior by a teenager. justin bieber was outright abusive to the crew and his behavior could have been dangerous in the air. sources say the pilots even had to use emergency equipment just to keep the flight safe. for the first time, exclusive new details from inside justin bieber's private jet. when federal agents boarded and searched his luxury g-4 in new jersey last friday, law enforcement sources tell nbc news there was still a strong odor of marijuana and smoke in

the air. pot smoke so thick, during the flight, sources say, the pilots had to put on oxygen masks so they wouldn't get high. >> the pilots' fears are for the safety for the airplane and the passengers because of the influence of this drug affecting their performance. >> but bieber wouldn't stop. according to the official police report obtained exclusively by nbc news, the captain warned the passengers, including bieber, on several occasions to stop smoking marijuana. and stop their harassing behavior toward the flight attendant. that flight attendant telling authorities, the pop superstar and his father jeremy bieber were extremely abusive verbally. she ended up taking refuge near the cockpit to keep away from the biebers and avoid any further abuse. >> if this were a commercial flight, the pilots would have landed that airplane immediately and arrests would have been made. >> justin bieber admitted to officers he was smoking pot and

drinking, but was let go when no additional drugs were found. he's been dealing with police all over north america. in toronto last week, he surrendered on charges of criminal assault. his attorney says he's innocent. just a week before -- >> total bond would be $2,5 $2,5$2,500. >> he faced a judge in miami, for dui, resisting arrest and driving with an expired license. he pled not guilty. insiders worry justin bieber is spiraling out of control. >> he needs an intervention. he needs to separate himself, quite frankly from his enabling participants. what a horrible example for all of his fans. >> it's important to note here bieber has not been charged with anything from that flight. the crew decided not to press charges. but according to the official report, while the abuse wasn't physical or sexual, the flight attendant, richard, said you know what? i'm never flying with the biebers ever again. >> what a story. thank you so much as always.

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with limited availability in select markets. ♪ it is high noon from the nation's capital. i'm craig melvin. that winter storm with just an absolutely massive footprint continues to stomp across this country. snow in some places. rain and ice in others. and consider there are now well over a half million homes without power. thousands of flights cancelled. oh, and perhaps another storm is on the way. plus, president obama set to huddle behind closed doors with senate democrats. a public hearing is under way about that new cbo report, obamacare and the overall economic outlook. we will hear from all sides on those issues straight ahead on this wednesday. but we start, though -- we start with that winter weather. right now, thanks to the second winter storm in just a week, nearly one million people don't have power. a layer of ice now covers much

of the northeast and great lakes. much of that same area was already buried under snow. the ice more than a half-inch thick in some places, dragging down trees on to power lines. pennsylvania has the most power problems at this moment right now with nearly 600,000 homes without power. and a look at the so called misery map shows the greatest flight problems. in the new york city area, so far today airlines have cancelled more than 2400 flights. right now in detroit, a private jet is stuck in the snow. crews have already freed two regional jets that were stuck earlier today. meanwhile, a 65-mile stretch of i-84 is closed in new york state. amtrak service is suspended between philadelphia and harrisburg. hundreds of schools across the region cancelled classes. and service is now restored to