continues throughout the day, because we're talking about a quarter inch of ice, inch of ice in this area, with some strong, gusty winds. >> big problems in the airports, too. when you've got 75% of your fleet that has to come in and out of atlanta, that's already been cancelled, you're going to have some big backlog issues right into the weekend. >> and it's already started. lots of passengers stranded at atlanta's international, the world east busiest airport. it could take until next week until airlines are able to clear that backlog. here's north carolina's governor just moments ago. >> i hope we're overprepared and underwhelmed by this storm. we are not anticipating to be underwhelmed by this storm. i hope the forecasters are wrong. >> and take a look at nasa's picture of the storm from space. almost a third of the u.s. population, roughly 93 million people are under some kind of winter weather advisory right now, and as the storm travels

north and east, new york city, philadelphia, and d.c. could see up to 12 inches of snow by tomorrow. let's get right to nbc's chris clacken, who is in atlanta, one of the largest cities in the storm's cross hairs this morning. >> craig, the storm is playing out pretty much the way forecasters said it would on tuesday. the interstates here in atlanta, pretty much abandoned compared to two weeks ago, mainly because businesses are closed, schools are closed. there are a lot of cancelled flights in and out of the atlanta airport, but the big concerns have to do with the fact that the sleet that is falling now on top of the freezing rain that fell overnight, the fear is that that's going to pretty much build up on to power lines and tree limbs and break, give away, especially in the heavy winds that are expected later today. causing what may be some

widespread power outages in the state of georgia alone there are upwards of 65,000 homes and businesses without power right now. 45,000 of those pretty much in the atlanta area. however, most people are heeding the advice of state officials and staying off the roads, hunkered down waiting for the big thaw that could come as early as friday when the temperatures get back up to the 50s. in atlanta, i'm chris clackum, craig, back to you. >> thank you. meteorologist mike seidel is standing by. mike, are folks heeding the warning in, are they staying off the roads there in the upstate? >> they are, craig. it was basically a no turnout rush hour this morning here in greenville. schools are closed, very few businesses are open. we're going to try to find a restaurant today that's open. not many are. this is hayward road, they have treated this with salt and sand

for traction, so this is slushed up. also, the snowfall has backed off. we've had about an inch so far. parts of the upstate have had three to four inches of snow. we're at 25 degrees. it's going to stay in the mid-20s and we have a long way to go. it's going to snow until probably 7:00 or 8:00 tomorrow morning. we're forecasting six to ten inches of snow here. they've only had six of those since 1892, and if they get more than five inches of snow, it will be a top ten daily snowfall for february, so everybody's just kind of sitting tight, hanging loose, and glad that they are seeing snow instead of down state around columbia, counties north of charleston, we've had over 35,000 customers there without power, where we've had at least a quarter, if not half inch of ice and power outages. meanwhile, craig, real quickly, this is how you plow snow. even in greenville, south carolina, this is about the coolest thing i've seen all winter. go ahead, charlie payne, put it

in motion. who needs a shovel when you've got the robot plowing the snow for you? >> wow. wow. >> this is cool. what's the stricter on one of those, how much is that going to run me? >> craig melvin from m.s. wants to know, what's the sticker on one of those? >> right now that's kind of a first of a kind for us. we've done a lot of other robots. this one's about $8,500. >> craig melvin, can you avoid $8,500? >> i don't know if that's worth the investment. you get that kind of snow once every four or five years. >> there we go. craig, back to you. >> mike seidel, thank you, and thanks to the robot, as well. there's a live look right now, by the way, at the state house dome in columbia, south carolina. my hometown. that dome has not seen that much snow and ice in some time. got off the phone with mom a short time ago, she still has

power, but thousands of folks primarily in that part of the state are without power right now. again, that storm crippling the south. meteorologist bill karins has been tracking this thing from the beginning. bill, what are we looking at right now? >> south carolina is really my big concern with the ice. that's the historic portion of this. you know, the snow in charlotte happens every now and then, same with columbia, south carolina, right up to the richmond areas, but the players are on the board. so far we've been dealing with storm number one down in the gulf. what's really going to amp this up is when storm number two, which is now diving through missouri, meets up with number one later tonight. that's when it's going to become our nor'easter and the two storms begin to merge. we have warnings from louisiana all the way up to vermont, about 83 million people impacted, but right now, the worst of it, and power still going out in areas across south carolina, augusta, to columbia.

so far you've had a lot of snow and sleet, avoided the freezing rain, but aiken, carolina, a lot of pictures of downed trees right now, same with the augusta area. even myrtle beach, all morning long, temperatures around 30 degrees with light rain. i've seen pictures out there with people literally windows of houses covered in ice, and that heavy snow is moving into charlotte and raleigh. now is the time to stay off the roads, especially in north carolina. craig, i'll be back later in the show. new information with new computer models. i'm going to tweak my snowfall totals for areas in the northeast. stay tuned. >> all right. bill karins, thank you so much. do appreciate you. here's a live look at atlanta right now. a very different situation, as you can see there. very different from two weeks ago when we saw hundreds, if not thousands, of folks stranded on highways there in the "a," hard linen on the roads right now.

we're told georgia governor nathan deal will be having a news conference in the next hour. you can stay with msnbc as we continue to monitor a very dangerous weather situation throughout this southern and eastern part of this country. we'll bring you more updates on conditions throughout the hour. let's pivot right now to politics, to washington, where the impending winter storm forced the republican-led house to vote a day early on raising the debt ceiling. after weeks of failed efforts to drum up enough votes to extract a concession from democrats, speaker john boehner put up a clean increase that passed 221-201. >> we don't have 218 votes. we don't have 218 votes, you have nothing. we've seen that before, we see it again. >> the move didn't earn boehner any applause from house republicans, apparently, who reportedly, quote, didn't speak up or clap. boehner just stood there for a moment after he finished, eyed the room, and walked toward his seat. this is according to robert

costa with "the washington post." he said, quote, i'm getting the monkey off your back and you're not even going to clap? surprise to no one, conservative groups lashed out, quote, we thought it was a joke. heritage action calling it irresponsible. the senate conservatives fund calling for boehner to be replaced as a result of the vote. republican congressman peter king weighed in on "morning joe" today. >> this is the same group that back in september and october went into a government shutdown that everybody knew was a disaster. they ended up looking like morons following ted cruz over the cliff. john boehner was not going to let that happen again. >> california democratic congresswoman jackie speier, congresswoman, always good to see you. first of all, your reaction to that vote. >> well, it was mother nature doing her level best to help us get over that cliff, and i was delighted to be able to cast my

vote. in a very responsible way, we have to pay our debts, so when we appropriate funds, it only makes sense that when the bill comes due, we pay it. that's what increasing the debt limit is all about. >> congresswoman, are we witnessing a shift at all, perhaps, of thawing of tensions there on the hill? taunt of sorts, if you will? here you have speaker john boehner capitulating to president obama for the most part, is this the beginning of something different? >> well, i certainly hope so, and i give credit to speaker boehner for doing what was the responsible thing to do, and he was hearing from business communities across the country from wall street who said basically, do not do this, do not send this economy in yet another tailspin, so give him credit. only 28 republicans voted for it, but then all 193 democrats came onboard and we have the

debt limit that's increased now until march of 2015. >> let's switch gears here. president obama signing that minimum wage hike into law today for federal contract workers. democrats were told they are going to continue to push for that living wage raise across the board. in the meantime, though, new jersey governor chris christie yesterday in chicago with a bit of a different take on income inequality. take a listen. >> i don't think the american people want income equality. what they want is income opportunity. you want income equality, that's mediocrity. everybody can have an equal, mediocre salary. that's what we can afford. or do you want the opportunity for greatness? >> the opportunity for greatness, congresswoman. >> well, you tell that to a mother with a couple of kids working a minimum wage job at mcdonald's, and two-thirds of those receiving the minimum wage in this country are women, who

have in often many cases children. that means their monthly income is $1,300 a month. you add child care on that and housing in high-cost areas, you're absolutely guaranteeing they are going to spend the rest of their lives in poverty. not even mediocrity, and to chris christie, i think he needs to get another reality check. >> congresswoman jackie speier, we'll leave it there, congresswoman, thank you. >> sure. 1,000 days now until election day. what's the strategy for the biggest hopefuls going forward? former senator kay bailey hutchison, former governor ed rendell join me on the other side of this break. also, voting rights issues are heating up in the important state of ohio, that's where they pick presidents. i'm going to talk to secretary of state candidate nina turner about the bills up for a vote in her state as early as today. meanwhile, president obama

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a live look right now at laguardia airport here in new york. you can see an empty runway there. we're told that things right now at laguardia are not that bad yet in terms of delays and cancellations, but there's the flight aware map, the misery map, so-called misery map. perhaps 6,500, more than 6,500 flights across this country have been delayed or cancelled, and you can see we put the hand over atlanta for you there.

that's hartsville/jackson, most cancellations are coming out of or going into atlanta. meteorologist bill karins is going to join me in about 15 minutes with more on the forecast down there. we're told roughly 225,000 people in the southern part of this country right now do not have power. that may be a conservative estimate. to politics now. not just the white house, where tea partiers are itching for a fight versus the white house, with 1,000 days to the election 2016, one potential candidate is taking president obama to court. right now, senator rand paul, live look right now, senator rand paul, representative of tea party organizers freedom works are outside the federal courthouse in washington, d.c., where they are announcing a class-action lawsuit against the president, also against high ranking intelligence officials over nsa surveillance, and a message posted announcing that suit, paul claims this is the

only way to safeguard the constitution. >> the constitution is not a negotiable piece of parchment. washington leaders are expected to obey and protect what they took an oath to uphold, and if this means taking them to court over it, so be it. >> ed rendell, former democratic governor of pennsylvania, also an nbc news political analyst and kay bailey hutchison, former republican senator of texas. kay bailey hutchison, let me start with you here. what's this strategy, what's the thinking here if you're rand paul? >> well, i think senator paul is trying to elevate the conversation about the nsa. he has been on that really from the very beginning, he was kind of a voice in the wilderness early on, but now he is trying to elevate the issue again, and that's a way to do it, most

certainly. >> governor rendell, you know, go back to strategy for a second. this lawsuit notwithstanding, i mean, rand paul has also spent the better part of the last three weeks starting on "meet the press" with this sort of bizarre attack on bill clinton. and he continued that a week later, as well. what's the thinking there? what's the strategy behind bringing up a matter that was resolved by and large some 15 years ago? >> well, yeah, senator hutchison said rand paul's seeking to elevate the discussion. he was certainly sinking to new lows attacking bill clinton, and it makes no sense. well, obviously, the strategy is to appeal to the base. rand paul now thinks that he's got a leg up with governor christie's problem, looks like governor bush might not decide to run, so he wants to appeal to the base and show the base he's a fighter. that's what suing the president's all about. he knows he's not going to win that suit.

>> do you appeal to the base at the risk of alienating, you know, the folks in this country who decide elections? >> of course. >> 45% of folks in the middle? >> of course. bill clinton is the most popular elected official, former elected official in the united states of america. he's favorable almost at 70%. he is in many circles revered, and even if he wasn't, people don't like going back 20 years to muck up, drag up muck like that. i think senator paul's making a huge mistake. win the nomination, at what cost, lose the election. and right now that's exactly where the republican party's headed again, having this type of fight among candidates that are second and third tier and the winner's going to emerge with no chance to win the general election, because they've done things that will just disgust and turn off the american people. >> senator hutchison, you know, it is very interesting if you take what senator paul has said about the nsa, because some of those issues that he's raised, those issues resinate with large

swaths of this country. then you couple that with the bizarre attacks on hillary and bill clinton and it really is a head scratcher. >> well, i was just thinking that the nsa position is the position of many supporters of the democratic party and president obama. he has staked out a very different position from many others in the republican party. it's a libertarian position, but it's also a position of the left, and then on the attack on the clintons, i think, on those grounds are -- it's over. i mean, i don't think it's relevant today. i don't think it's speaking to the issues that america cares about right now, which should be the debt ceiling, the economy, and jobs, and the issues that affect our lives, and, you know, i don't think that's a

preemptive strike against hillary that's going to land. i really don't. >> and the worst thing is, craig, and i think senator hutchison would agree, it makes him look small. it makes him look like a petty politician. >> that's a good spot to leave it. governor ed rendell, former governor ed rendell, senator kay bailey hutchison. thank you. >> thanks, craig. a major recall to tell you about affecting almost 2 million toyotas. what the company says needs to be fixed, coming up. also, what might the debt limit vote mean for immigration reform? our agenda panel is here on a wednesday afternoon, wednesday morning, i should say. people a, how much money do you think you'll need when you retire? then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last. i was trying to, like, pull it a little further. [ woman ] got me to 70 years old. i'm going to have to rethink this thing. it's hard to imagine how much we'll need for a retirement that could last 30 years or more. so maybe we need to approach things differently, if we want to be ready for a longer retirement.

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without power. you can see the purple there in the palmetto state. you don't see that purple in that part of the country a great deal of time. that storm moves north, bill karins will join me in about five minutes with an update. here's a quick look at other stories topping the news right now. the trial for boston bombing suspect dzhokhar tsarnaev begins november 3rd. defense lawyers had asked that the trial not start before september 2015, tsarnaev faces the death penalty if convicted. meanwhile, closing arguments are under way in the so-called loud music murder trial in florida. michael dunn is charged with shooting and killing 17-year-old jordan davis in 2012. dunn took the stand in his own defense for about three hours, testifying that he feared for his life. meanwhile, washington state, the governor has put a stop to the death penalty there. no executions will take place while he's in office. that's at least until 2017.

citing issues with the capital punishment system, the governor said he will issue a reprieve in any death penalty case. and maryland could become the first state to ban those popular energy drinks, red bull, monster, and other drinks would be off limits to teenagers under the proposed legislation. a 14-year-old girl in the state died after consuming the drinks. in a lawsuit, the girl's family alleges that the drinks exacerbated a pre-existing heart condition. nearly 2 million toyotas are being recalled today. it impacts the new generation prius. toyota says a glitch in the gas electric hybrid system could cause the cars to shut down. last month they halted several models after founding padding on seat heaters did not meet standards. and the sky's the limit for this little guy. sky, a wire fox terrier was named best in show at the annual

westminster dog show last night. he was the favorite going in, apparently. managed to beat out a portuguese water dog, an english sheep dog, a poodle, and the crowd favorite, that guy, nathan the blood hound. if you ask me, nathan was robbed, robbed. look how sad he is about it. o sy the house to grab a few things. you stopped by the house? uh-huh. yea. alright, whenever you get your stuff, run upstairs, get cleaned up for dinner. you leave the house in good shape? yea. yea, of course. ♪ [ sportscaster talking on tv ] last-second field go-- yea, sure ya did. [ male announcer ] introducing at&t digital life. personalized home security and automation. get professionally monitored security for just $29.99 a month. with limited availability in select markets. ♪

live look right now at columbia, south carolina. there are roughly 65,000 people without power now in that state alone because of a nasty mix of snow and ice. more than 111,000 are without power in georgia. 48,000 we're told in louisiana. it's nasty. there's the capitol dome there in columbia, south carolina. today's winter storm has snarled air travel at the world's busiest airport in atlanta, leaving passengers stranded at the gate. lots of folks just hanging out at the airport waiting for a new

flight. nbc meteorologist bill karins tracking this crippling storm for us. what's the latest? >> we get information, two big pieces of information, one, you know, almost midnight, the other close to noon here. i just got the morning piece in. let me tell you some of the trends that we're looking at with this storm. i'm talking mostly the snow side of the storm, the ice side is ongoing, the damage is done and will continue to be done. let me give you the timing here for the northeast. as we look at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, this is going to be, probably, if not definitely, the worst morning commute we've seen from philadelphia to new york city. looks like very heavy snow bands, maybe one to two inches an hour right down i-95. you couldn't ask for much worse than that. it will start snowing in areas like d.c. probably 10:00 p.m. this evening, philadelphia around 2:00 p.m., new york city, 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. then tomorrow afternoon in the

evening, 5:00 p.m., a lot of snow up through northern new england, berkshires, catskills. there's going to be a break, then you're going to get slapped as the storm leaves. what does our new computer information show for storm totals? i've had many of the big cities about six to ten inches. we're still in that zone. boston, you get rain, you get robbed from your snow, but the d.c. area to philly, to new york, still looking on track for six to ten and some areas are starting to sneak up a bit to at least eight to 12. here's my official snowfall forecast. south areas, north carolina and virginia, just going to get nailed by this. the western sections of those states could end up a foot plus. charlotte, six to ten inches, almost a top ten for charlotte. farther to the north, that purple section, that little band, may need to bring that down into the poconos. those are areas that are also

going to get a foot-plus of snow. >> what about after this -- we're going to at least see a warm up in this part of the country? >> there's a mini storm, clipper low coming through saturday, sunday, through the east. after that, middle of next week, end of next week, looks like 50s and 60s, a big melt. >> good. some of that stuff will start to melt. >> may take till april, but we'll start. >> all right, all right, thank you so much for all the good news, bill karins. back to politics now, speaker john boehner gets a clean debt ceiling passed the house, but a demand of reform. that's the topic for the agenda panel right now. z zarlina maxwell, amanda turkel, and victoria soto, professor of the university of texas, professor at the university of texas at austin. that's a mouthful. i want to start with you, you remember this article from bill

krystal, from his memo from the house gop, about a month or so ago. make a deal, no default in return for no amnesty. no amnesty, such a deal should mean no gop tears this november. so we have no default with a clean debt ceiling bill. what might this mean for immigration reform? or will it mean anything at all for comprehensive immigration reform? >> you know, i wish i could be more optimistic, but i don't think it means anything for immigration reform because john boehner said they don't trust the president to pass immigration, that's completely ludicrous, 2 million deportations, more enforcement on the border than ever before and the number of agents on the border is at a 40-year high. every new day there's a new excuse. i don't think the clean debt ceiling means we're going to move forward with immigration. they are always coming up with a new reason why they don't want

to move forward. >> is this whole business aut not trusting the president has taken a comedic turn, in fact, jon stewart poked fun at this last night. take a look, take a listen. >> for the republican caucus to suggest that they will not entertain immigration reform because they don't trust this president to enforce the laws of the land is perhaps the greatest projection in the history of psychology. the gop is saying they don't trust the president's ability to implement the law is like bob costas saying, no, i don't want to borrow your glasses, i don't know where they've been. >> bob would laugh at that, too, we should note. here's the thing, after senator chuck schumer suggested passing reform and delaying implementation until 2017, this is what congressman jim jordan of ohio had to say, quote, it's -- i'll read it, we don't have the full screen. it's not just there's a strong distrust for the president's ability to function on good faith in light of what's

happened, but we don't know who's going to be president in 2017, victoria, that's the new argument. >> right. it has nothing to do with the president. boehner's claim he doesn't trust the president, is it a genuine or accurate portrayal of the state of immigration reform and chuck schumer's projection of 2017 isn't accurate either because it doesn't have to do with president obama, it's all about the senate. the gop thinks that they have a really good shot at gaining the senate in this upcoming election, so they do not want to do anything to upset the base, because we know that those antiimmigrant forces in the gop will punish the party if they ram through an immigration reform. those pro immigration forces in the gop might be unhappy that it doesn't get passed, but ultimately they are not going to rock the boat, so this is all about the senate. >> amanda, here's the message from left-leaning campaign for community change. here's the message, no republican is saying, from now on any lawmaker who does not

support comprehensive immigration reform should expect relentless and constant confrontations that will escalate until they agree to support immigration reform. is that a strategy that is going to be effective, or do you run the risk of alienating some of your more loyal supporters on the other side of the aisle with that strategy? >> well, they are going to keep that up in 2014 and into 2016 with the presidential elections, but here's the problem. in the house, including for many immigration supporters on the republican side, is that the republican caucus cannot agree on what it wants. i mean, they couldn't even agree on the one thing that they wanted to ask for in exchange for raising the debt ceiling, was it going to be blocking keystone, was it going to be restoring military benefits, which is incredibly popular? they could not agree on that, and that's why this did not bode well for immigration reform, because immigration reform is far more complicated. sure, they can agree on a broad set of principles, but when it gets down to governing, that's where they are running into

problems and where even some of these republicans who do want to see immigration reform. >> big thanks to all of you, do appreciate your time. the agenda panel today. we will be right back. see what's new at projectluna.com [ telephone rings ] [ shirley ] edward jones. this is shirley speaking. how may i help you? oh hey, neill, how are you? how was the trip? [ male announcer ] with nearly 7 million investors... [ shirley ] he's right here. hold on one sec. [ male announcer ] ...you'd expect us to have a highly skilled call center. kevin, neill holley's on line one. ok, great. [ male announcer ] and we do. it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. ♪ we are the thinkers. the job jugglers. the up all-nighters. and the ones who turn ideas into action.

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tylenol®. a new analysis of 60 clinical trials reveals the best ways to prevent and treat the common gold. washing your hands with soapy water is the best prevention. antihistamines and decongestants are effective in older children, but don't seem to help young children or adults. right now, voting rights battles are heating up all over this country, including the presidential make-or-break state of ohio, where a vote could come as early as today as two gop-backed bills. together, the proposals would slash early voting by a week in same-day voter registration and

severely restrict that state's absentee ballot program. meanwhile, in montana, that state supreme court has cleared the way to make same-day registration an issue at the ballot box in november. in montana, more than 28,000 residents have taken advantage of same-day registration since it went in effect in 2005. joining me now, ohio state senator and secretary of state candidate nina turner and msnbc.com writer zachary roth. senator turner, let me start with you. obviously, the stakes are high in ohio, because, you know, it's the place where presidents are picked. but we haven't been here, we haven't done this, it seems as if we have. have we not learned anything from a decade ago? >> obviously, we have not, and this is a remix of the battle days in this country. one thing we can say in terms of voting rights, we have been a nation of progress, but you have members in the gop here in the state of ohio and across the country that want to take us

back. the two bills that are pending right now that will be up for a floor vote in the ohio house next week severely restrict access to the ballot box. given what we went through in 2004, it absolutely makes no sense, and that golden week point you made, golden week is the one time in the state of ohio where somebody can go register and vote at the same day, interfaced with professionals at the boards of ler elections, and they are cutting that out. it doesn't make sense, especially since last year about 20,000 provisional ballots were thrown out because of registration issues. we should be expanding and protecting the right to vote, not regressing and suppressing it and that is what's going on in the state of ohio. it's outrageous. >> let's talk about montana and your article on msnbc.com, you point out in montana, supporters of the gop initiative say it ups the chances of fraud, though almost no in-person voter fraud has been detected in this state.

what's the real motivation in montana? >> well, a big part of the motivation has to do with college students. they are actually a big part of the democratic base in montana, and they particularly are benefitted by this same-day registration, because they are moving around a lot, so it's convenient to be able to show up on the same day and register and vote. not being able to do that will dramatically decrease the turnout among college students and that's a big problem. >> what's the court said about the situation in montana? >> well, there was a court challenge, and what it did was they were able to change the language of it, which originally had incorrectly said they had to end same-day registration in order to comply with federal law. that wasn't true, but the court said you have to change that language, but it can still go ahead and be on the ballot. >> senator, opponents claim that registration and voting should be a two-step process. in response, you've said that registering someone in person is the best time to verify their

identity. is this really about voter identification in ohio? >> it really is about voter suppression, and you can't beat them, cheat them, and that is what's happening in ohio and across the country, that if folks can't win with better ideas, they have decided to cheat the system. whether that's by faulty redistricting or introducing and passing restrictive voting legislation and laws, this is exactly what they are doing, and they are really hitting the underpinning of what makes us such a great democracy. one woman, one man, one vote. and it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. it is deplorable what is happening in the state of ohio. i'm so glad that zach is what's happening all across this country. they are trying to rig the elections. but i am confident that the voters in this state and across this country, they are not going to stand for it. there will be a day of reckoning and it is called the election of 2014. >> zach, really quickly, north carolina had its highest turnout yet this week, we understand,

for those moral monday protests. activists are railing against what they say is a return to a pre civil rights south, including the so-called attempt to, quote, crucify voting rights. is there a chance we're going to see this kind of backlash in places like ohio, in places like montana? >> absolutely. i mean, in north carolina, it's actually been a rightward shift across the board, not just on voting rights, but on economic issues, on campaign finance, on a whole range of stuff. yes, as you see the efforts to restrict the votes in ohio, montana, nevada, even in california right now, you're going to see voting rights advocates and supporters come out and resist that, just like in 2012, which there was a high african-american turnout, so it could back fire. >> ohio state senator nina turner and msnbc.com writer zachary roth. thank you both. a weather alert update for you right now. we have learned that by tomorrow

morning, 6:00 tomorrow morning to be specific, the commute could be treacherous. from d.c. to new york city, take a look at this map here. as for totals, the big cities are expected to get somewhere between 6 to 10 inches of snow by late tomorrow. hartford, connecticut, could see up to 14 inches. meanwhile, down south, ice continues to wreak havoc on roads and power lines there. roughly a quarter million people down south don't have power right now. we're going to continue to monitor the situation. first, though, today's producer's pick is a team decision. some parents in mexico will have to think twice if they want to give their babies an odd name. there's a new law in the state of sonora that bans more than 60 names. just a few of those names that have been banned, facebook, rambo. a state official says those kinds of names have no meaning and can lead to bullying.

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brian boitano, you've got to love that music. live look there. live look at the olympic flame in sochi. it is almost 9:00 local time there. there's a look at the latest medal count. norwegians, man, they are -- >> because of all the cross-country. >> norway, 12 total medals, canada, the netherlands, team usa, we've slipped to fourth place. we are at seven medals right now. so far these 2014 olympic winter games will be remembered for a number of reasons. that opening ceremony snafu, unusual and unfinished accommodations, decidedly un-winter-like temperatures, and the political and social

controversy, as well. as a deliberate show of equal rights support, a nine-person official delegation representing the united states in sochi includes at least three gay americans, hockey player caitlin cahow, hockey legend billy jean king, and olympic gold medalist brian boitano who came out publicly just days after being selected. brian boitano joins me live in the studio. good to see you. >> good to see you, too. >> first of all, this may seem like an odd question this morning, but it came up this morning. you're part of the u.s. olympic delegation, but you've been stateside, it seems like, for the entire olympic games. why is that? >> we were there for four days. they have a delegation for the opening ceremonies, then they have another delegation for the closing ceremonies, and, hopefully, billy jean will be able to go to that. >> are you going to go back? >> i'm not, because i'm not on the closing delegations. >> does that strike you as odd? >> not odd, but, yeah, you would

think they'd select one delegation and have them stay through the whole olympics. >> you wanted to stay, didn't you? >> i was torn. i did want to stay a little bit, but once the delegation leave, man, i better catch my ride back home. >> i would imagine this experience has been transformative for you in a variety of ways, you said you had no plans of coming out, why not? >> why had i not had plans to come out? i didn't think there was really a need to. i was always, even though i had public persona, i always had a personal life, a private man, and i was always reserved that side of my life for family and friends. never been ashamed, always been out to my family and friends, and i just didn't think there was a need to. it's only an aspect of who i am, and no important than any other aspect of my life. >> what changed when the announcement was made you were going to be a part of this delegation? >> well, i heard the president's message of tolerance and

diversity, and i thought, wow, this is a huge platform. it's from president to president, country to country. i really need to take a stand and stand strong with billy jean and caitlin, who had already come out, and be a part of this delegation representing the country, and it inspired me. >> a show of solidarity. >> yeah. >> now that it's happened, i imagine the response has been overwhelming. >> it is. it's overwhelming, but it's really, really supportive. people understand and have thanked me for, you know, representing the country in that way. >> what was your experience like when you were in russia? because we've heard so much about not just the antipropaganda laws, antigay propaganda laws, but what was your experience like personally? >> you know what, traveling with the delegation is one thing, because we had our own security unit, so we felt very safe, but traveling around and seeing security on every block, every

intersection, every overpass, every bridge, it was complete security all around the city. very few cars. in fact, i don't think they are allowing the public who lives in sochi to drive. it's only official vehicles, so i felt very secure. i was nervous getting off the plane, but after we got going and saw, you know, how much security there was, i felt really confident. >> let's talk about the games themselves. take away so far, have you been thoroughly impressed by team usa? >> yeah, i mean, team usa's doing really well. i was disappointed because i really wanted shaun white to, you know, get another gold medal, so i was hoping that that was going to happen for him, but, you know, just disappointed. >> the weather in sochi, i mean, when you were there, was it more winter-like? >> no, but i had a friend who texted me today from sochi and said it's 70 degrees. i said it's colder in new york city. what is this? we should have the winter olympics here. >> we are fourth place right now. you saw the medal count a few moments ago. where do we finish, do you

think? what are our chances of coming to the top of the leaderboard? those norwegians you were saying during the commercial break, to what can we attribute this? >> a lot of the nordic skiing events is why. we're going to see a resurgence of the americans later on in the games, we're going to be halfpipes and the figure skating teams, so hopefully, we're going to have some more medals in those categories and i think that will pop us up into the pop three. >> we're pacing ourselves. >> we are. we're saving the best for last. >> olympic gold medalist brian boitano, thank you for stopping by, thanks for the explanation, as well, about why precisely it was you weren't over there as part of our delegation. that is going to do it for me right now. after the break here, very quick break, our olympic coverage of men's hockey. switzerland and latvia. who do you have in that one? >> i think latvia. >> latvia? >> yeah, definitely. >> live look there, sochi. 8:56, a few minutes before 9:00.

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jamie anderson claims gold in slopestyle. a sparkling night in sochi, russia as the xxii olympic games continue and men's hockey gets underway. first up is latvia versus switzerland. hello and welcome to shayba arena, kathryn tappen. this building was rocking, usa and canada women, let's show you exactly what happened, hilary knight got the scoring started in the second. team