it's monday, january 25th. right now on "first look," the record blizzard of 2016. a number of people lost their lives and the financial costs are staggering. digging out and heading back to work for millions. super bowl 50 is set. a battle between old and young as peyton manning takes on cam newton with the panthers favored. crunch time with one week to go after iowa voters caucus, and donald trump says this -- >> i could stand in the middle of fifth avenue and shoot somebody and i wouldn't lose any voters, okay? it's like incredible. >> we've got the last-minute scramble of the candidates. plus, an all-new "snl." "first look" starts right now. good morning, i'm gigi stone

woods. the east coast continues to dig out from this weekend's historic storm that brought record snowfall to much of the area. at least 14 states got more than a foot of snow, with parts of west virginia getting an amazing 42 inches. although that didn't stop the west virginia swim team from holding practice. very dedicated. both of new york city's major airports broke records. laguardia got nearly 28 inches and jfk international had 38.5. while central park was 0.1 off the previous record. nearby newark, new jersey, on the other hand was 0.1 above the city's previous record. farther south along the jersey shore, several areas experienced record flooding, with chunks of ice flowing with the water. the town of north wildwood was flooded with half a foot more water than during superstorm sandy. and the town's police shared this picture of a rescuer carrying a little girl after her home was flooded. federal government offices in the nation's capital will remain closed monday after getting

nearly 20 inches of powder. no word yet if there will be a round two of yesterday's epic snowball fight at du pont circle. that's what happens when you get stuck inside. but it's a pretty good pet the obama family dogs bo and sunny will be dreaming of their time playing in the snow picture perfect. the washington redskins probably weren't as happy. the roof of their practice facility collapsed under 34 inches of snow and 50-mile-per-hour winds. virginia governor terry mcauliffe attributed 1200 car accidents in his state to the storm. at least 30 people are dead as a result of the weather. now that's mostly from car crashes, but also from heart attacks while shoveling. and at least one person got hit by a plow. in north carolina, a 26-year-old single father of a 17-month-old was shot and killed while trying to help a driver who skidded off the road. sunday morning in connecticut, a commuter train, which didn't have passengers at the time, hit a truck after its plow got stuck on the tracks. now luckily no one was injured.

amazingly the train wasn't damaged and was able to continue on its way. according to flightaware more than 12,000 flights were canceled due to the storm and more than 1300 flights are already canceled today. nbc's edward lawrence is out on the streets of washington with more. edward, are you all dug out? >> gigi, i'm calling this the big dig, actually. tens of thousands of people from the maryland suburbs to the outskirts of new york city are trying to dig out just in the nation's capital alone. right around the u.s. capital. this is how much snow we are dealing with. somewhere around knee level, still. now some people are also dealing with more than 30 inches of snow, still. now the story turns to storm cleanup. cities dig out while dealing with pleau freezing temperatures. >> the roads are, they're okay like the main roads are great, they're open, they're flowing, and there's a lot of spots that haven't been touched yet and there's a lot of mess. >> at least 30 deaths are blamed on the storm. many of them came from traffic accidents. others from heart attacks related to shoveling the snow

after it fell. several roofs also collapsed from the storm. >> getting back to business as usual is going to take a considerable amount of time. >> reporter: some neighborhoods still buried because plows can't get there yet. chris gephardt can't even see out of his window. >> our second floor window completely covered in snow. >> reporter: rescue crews still responding to emergencies on streets with two feet of snow. they lose minutes when every second counts. the mayor of baltimore could not give a time line for clearing the streets. >> given the condition of many of our streets, i believe it is safest for all citizens to minimize traffic on our roads. >> reporter: on the eastern shore of new jersey it's flooding, not snow causing problems. but in d.c., residents are making the best of a cold, uncomfortable situation. and this is the first time that this same storm dropped more than 19 inches of snow on washington, d.c., and new york city at the same time. it will take days to get back to normalcy. gigi? >> good luck to you, edward

lawrence. thanks. historic assume bowl 50 is set. the two number one teams going head-to-head in a battle of old versus young. the defending champs battling from behind. tom brady throws one of his two picks of the day. moments later the broncos' peyton manning hits owen daniels for his second touchdown to go. up 14-6. 17 seconds left on the clock. >> with the game on the line, brady, in the pocket, end zone, it is caught by gronkowski to make it -- >> touchdown pass. now for the tie. brady goes for the two-point conversion but the pass is tipped and picked off. broncos head to their eighth super bowl in franchise history. next to charlotte where cam newton's panthers man handled the cards. >> the toss to ginn. slowed down a bit. still going. instead the 10. gets a block, touchdown! >> the rest of the game went

carolina's way. cam newton ran for two tds in addition to throwing for two more as arizona had six turnovers. panthers dominated 49-15. super bowl 50 is february 7th in santa clara. the panthers are an early four-point favorite. we'll see. the presidential race meanwhile may be getting a little more crowded. according to reports former new york city mayor michael bloomberg is milling over a bid as an independent. even having some advisers draw up plans for his campaign. the 73-year-old billionaire has contemplated running in the past. he's teased the public but always declined to do so in the end saying he didn't think he could win. so speaking on "meet the press" hillary clinton doesn't think the former mayor needs to jump in surprise. >> the way i read what he said is if i didn't get the nomination he might consider it. well i'm going to relieve him of that and get the nomination. so he doesn't have to. >> meanwhile the boston globe officially endorsed clinton for president. she'll have one last chance to make a national pitch, along with the rest of the democratic

field, at tonight's democratic forum before the iowa caucuses just a week from today, it's getting close. now as donald trump and the rest of the gop field continue their fight for every last vote in the hawkeye state, nbc's kristen welker has the latest from the campaign trail. >> reporter: donald trump looking to lock it up in iowa. starting his day at church. later joking about the lessons he learned there. >> we talked about humility at church today. i don't know if that was aimed at me. perhaps. now the church i don't think knew that i was coming. >> reporter: a little levity in this high-stakes race, where he's again surging. the latest iowa poll, trump leading ted cruz 34% to 23% jumping 11 points from just two weeks ago. a possible bump for his sustained bashing of his closest opponent. >> one of the problems with ted cruz is everybody hates him. >> reporter: and, after another controversial outburst this weekend. >> i could stand in the middle of fifth avenue and shoot somebody, and i wouldn't lose any voters.

okay? it's like incredible. >> reporter: trump brushing aside criticism. >> i mean, i have people that are so loyal, far greater loyalty than any other candidate by double, triple, quadruple. and i love my people. >> reporter: meanwhile, marco rubio endorsed by the influential des moines register this weekend, still in third place in iowa. the challenge for the establishment favorite, breaking through in a cycle favoring outsiders. >> every time i've ever run for anything at this level i've taken on the establishment. i had to do it when i ran for the senate. and even now, when i decided to run for president. >> reporter: the newspaper also supporting hillary clinton. locked in an unexpectedly tight race with bernie sanders. on "meet the press," underscoring her experience. >> it is very personal, and people look and they think, you know, can we imagine this person to be president, and commander in chief? and because of my experience, i think that's something that people really take into account. >> reporter: and bernie sanders dismissing the newspaper endorsement, arguing it's a sign

he's the true outsider. >> the reason that our campaign is generating so much interest and enthusiasm is people think it's time that we take on the establishment. >> reporter: that was nbc's kristen welker reporting. let's get down to business with cnbc's landon dowdy. good morning, landon. >> hi, gigi. good morning to you, as well. prices at the pump keep falling. the average price of gas jumping 14 cents in the past two weeks to $1.91 a gallon. that's the lowest mark in seven years. it's also 16 cents cheaper than a year ago. however, analysts say prices may have bottomed if the rebound include oil late last week continues. meanwhile this weekend's storm could have a big impact on the economy, as much as $850 million. experts say restaurants, theaters and some retailers may take the brunt of the hit. but others say the impact may be a wash because many businesses made extra cash from people stocking up on food and supplies in advance. and twitter is shaking up the management ranks. the first major move since

co-founder jack dorsey returned as ceo last year. he has confirmed the heads of twitters products, engineering, media partnerships, and human resources departments are leaving. twitter stock recently hit an all-time low. gigi, back over to you. in the ongoing water crisis in flint, michigan, state attorney general bill chutety will hold a press conference later today. he's expected to discuss that investigation into the lead contamination of flint's water supply, and determine if any state laws were violated. on cnn's "state of the union" republican presidential candidate jeb bush offered praise to widely criticized governor rick snyder for his handling of the crisis. >> i admire rick snyder for stepping up right now. he's going to the challenge. and he's fired people, and accepted responsibility to fix this. >> one could argue that seems a little tone deaf but bush clarified that he was talking about snyder's response in recent days. meanwhile, "the tonight

show's" jimmy fallon announced plans to donate $10,000 to flint's community foundation, challenging others to donate as well. rock band pearl jam and unnamed partners pledged $300,000 to the effort with a crowd rise campaign and rapper big sean launched his own crowd rise raffling chances for a meet and greet for donations. that is just great. is the worst of the weather over for the east coast? your forecast for the week is next you want to know. plus the reward is growing as california authorities search for three really dangerous inmates who escaped from prison. we'll have details in three.

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welcome back to "first look," i'm meteorologist bonnie schneider. look at all the snow. this was the biggest snowstorm baltimore has ever seen. so here we are, we're tallying the number. just under 30 inches. this snowstorm will certainly go down in the record books. this morning temperatures are colder where we have that high snow pack like in washington, 19 degrees. boston at 27. but keep in mind eventually those temperatures will warm up.

watching for an area of low pressure to work its way out of kansas. this is going to trigger some snow. not too much. just a little bit. but watch out for some freezing rain in the upper midwest. later this afternoon, and even into tuesday morning, accumulations are light. on the high side, just two to four inches. temperatures finally getting above freezing. we need that in washington, d.c. and baltimore where we had so much heavy snow. even in new york city you'll get up to 36. that will help with the snow melt. but keep in mind that the temperatures will refreeze tonight. so we're looking at colder numbers, as well. and gigi, that's the main thing people have to watch out for the black ice as we get that freezeover in the evening hours. >> super dangerous. thanks. breaking news from southern california. police on the hunt for three dangerous criminals who escaped from an orange county jail friday by cutting through steel bars and climbing down a wall using tied bed sheets. the three men are wanted for a host of violent crimes ranging from kidnapping and torture to gang-related murder. three flight attendants and

four passengers were injured sunday from severe turbulence on an american airlines flight from miami to milan. the plane had to be diverted to newfoundland, canada, where they were rushed to the hospital. the airline's working on getting the injured passengers to italy. the cdc has issued a travel warning for eight more countries, saying pregnant women should steer clear due to the zika virus. the virus has now spread to 20 countries south of the border, where it causes infants to be born with smaller heads and brains. when something goes wrong, turning to social media may not be the best outlet. after actress andie macdowell got bumped from first class, she took to twitter to complain, and got a slew of tweets from haters. i mean really, andie, slumming it with the common folk, how could you hang with us? we feel so sorry for you. well she learned her lesson tweeting in part, never complain on twitter, and don't pay for first class on american airlines. can we move on now. "scrambled politics" is next. stay with us.

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time now for your monday edition of "scrambled politics." with one week to go after iowa, new jersey governor chris christie is debuting a new title, speaking during a quick visit back to his home state during the weekend's blizzard, christie labeled himself the disaster governor. he was, of course, talking about his experience during historic storms such as superstorm sandy and hurricane irene. now christie was talking titles. donald trump was talking hypotheticals at a rally in iowa.

>> i could stand in the middle of fifth avenue and shoot somebody and i wouldn't lose any voters, okay? it's like incredible. >> hypotheticals, we hope. marco rubio responded saying, quote, it's probably not a good idea for him to do that. but, you know, that's donald. trump, meanwhile, went to church on sunday in iowa, where he studied, quote, humility. that was the church lesson. "the new york times" reports that later when the collection plate was passed trump added two new $50 bills. well, he can afford it. and when you saw sarah palin was endorsing donald trump for president, did you wish tina fey was still on "saturday night live"? well your wish was granted this weekend. >> thank you, iowa. oh, i wanted to take a break from my full-time career of writing things on facebook. what's the big dill? take a chill pill jill. but we're mad. we've been had. and we're not so glad. kwoeth the lorax. thank you iowa and god bless

some of the united states of america. >> you have to admit the spoof kind of wrote itself. on the democratic side, hillary clinton is fighting to catch a surging bernie sanders in iowa. but sanders is setting his sights on someone else. >> i would very much look forward to a race against donald trump. chuck, there would be nothing more in this world than i would like to take on donald trump. we would beat him. and we would beat him badly. >> would be entertaining to watch. that's your morning dish of "scrambled politics." political analyst, best-selling author ellis henican is here. good morning. >> good morning. you made it through the blizzard. >> absolutely. >> good for you. >> and the media is buzzing. i don't know if the average, everyday man is buzzing. the media is buzzing. all the speculation about former new york city mayor michael bloomberg running for president. he has teased the public before. is it realistic this time? >> my billions are bigger than your billions. >> exactly. >> that's the slogan basically, right? listen, mike bloomberg has

apparently about 42 of those "bs" so if he wants to do it he could do it. but there are 100 reasons why it's almost impossible to get elected president as an end pept. and frankly it's probably too late. i predict he'll think about it, he'll weigh it, and he won't do it. >> and it would hurt the democrats if he did. >> yeah, it was really interesting because he was the republican mayor of new york city. but yet his policies really would likely pull voters away from hill ray. right? i mean, he has made a point on gun control, on gay marriage, on a number of issues, that would certainly be closer to today's democrats than today's republicans. so i think your analysis is exactly right. >> and for the democrats, it's a tighter race than anyone predicted. hillary clinton did get the endorsement, some big endorsements from the boston globe, des moines register. but doesn't that sort of bolster bernie sanders' case that he's the anti-establishment candidate? >> yes, it does. it does a bit. and i wonder, listen i love newspapers. that's been quarter century of my life, newspapers. but how many votes does the des

moines register endorsement deliver? i came up with one name, midges childers. that's the mother of publisher david childers in des moines, and i think she may now be in the, either the hillary or the marco rubio column. >> all right. very clever. and donald trump coming out and saying, you know, he could shoot someone and still get votes. it's a crazy thing to say. characteristic donald. but, i mean, it does seem that he really would have to do something horrible to lose votes. >> yeah. >> he is so surging. >> yeah. it is hard to know what donald could say that would drive his supporters away. and maybe supporters isn't the right word, zealots, cult members, whatever it is that connects those folks to donald, it seems to be unshakable. you're absolutely right. >> a very loyal fan base. ellis henican, thank you so much for giving us the scoop. just ahead, actor mark ruffalo gets a big assist from twitter. plus the battle lines are drawn as hundreds gather for an epic snowball fight. pretty cool.

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leading the news from local affiliate nbc 12, thieves steal cheese worth $160,000. that must have been some really good cheese. police in wisconsin searching for suspects who stole a trailer containing $70,000 worth of cheese in germantown. the trailer was located friday night empty. the incident comes after $90,000 of cheese was stolen from the city of marshfield. the two thefts have not yet been connected. there must be some real big dairy black market. in the huffington post, breathtaking photos show snowmageddon blizzard from space. international space station commander scott kelly captured

it impressive view in a number of photos. kelly tweeted to stay warm during #blizzard2016. kelly has been living in space since large of last year. and he does have the best views. in "usa today," twitter helps actor mark ruffalo find his phone and wallet. you heard it. during the massive blizzard, the oscar nominated star lost both items in a cab. he turned to twitter for help. he wrote apb out for a cell phone and wallet case. reward and signed pic. now if it was anyone else i don't know if they would have gotten it back. but for him, 20 minutes later the items were found. ruffalo thanked the two girls who found them in this photo. they're just little girls. i'm sure their parents helped them with this. and residents of washington, d.c. made good use of their piles of snow this weekend with a intense snowball fight. hundreds were at the scene sunday to partake in the post snowstorm tradition at du pont circle. d.c. was covered in more than 20 inches of snow saturday, which made for a lot of snowballs. and stir crazy people who've been stuck in their house all day breaking out their energy

>> they can't get their car but you can get out their frustration. >> exactly. it's harmless. >> plenty of snow to do it today. i'm gigi stone woods. this is "first look" on msnbc. don't forget to like us on facebook. "way too early" starts right now. on this monday morning, after the storm. the east coast continues to dig out from this weekend's historic blizzard. as much of washington, d.c. remains shut down. and one week to the iowa caucuses. if you thought donald trump was confident before, just hear him now. >> i could stand in the middle of fifth avenue and shoot somebody and i wouldn't lose any voters, okay? it's like incredible. >> and super bowl 50 all set. cam newton's panthers versus peyton mannings' broncos. it's 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west and this is "way too early."

well good morning. it's monday, january 25th. i'm bill karins. we begin this morning on the east coast. millions of americans are trying to get back to normal after this weekend's historic blizzard. the cleanup will go well into this work week. at least 30 storm-related deaths have been reported. many of them from heart attacks from shoveling that heavy snow. in the nation's capital, 24 hours of relentless snow brought the district to a standstill. this morning, schools, federal offices, and congress all closed. the northeast also took a pounding. new york city was hit with a foot more of snow than expected. and parts of new jersey saw major flooding in some coastal areas. when the high tide sent icy water rushing into homes and businesses. joining us from jersey city, new jersey, nbc news correspondent gabe gutierrez. gabe, how are the roads?