this morning on "world news now." we're throwing it back, celebrating 25 years of news. can you believe we do this week after week? >> fun. and polka. our 25th birthday bash starts now. >> happy birthday, "world news now." >> we bust out a little stevie. sorry. that's my bad stevie wonder impersonation. >> this is great. >> we have so much planned for our celebration. stay with us. first we have to get through that whole news part that we kind of have to do as well.

hour off with what is expected to be unfortunately a pretty miserable weekend for about 80 million americans in about 40 states. >> much of the west is still digging out from a blanket of snow. now rain and snow. forecasters are warning that scenes like this, this avalanche, triggered by a skier in washington state will be all too common when the mountains get another foot of snow. >> and preparations are underway for another storm system moving to the southeast bringing a rare mix of snow and ice from birmingham to atlanta. all the stormy weather is creating chaos from coast to coast. >> reporter: winter 2017 is off to a slippery and frozen start with cold or winter advisories.

in watertown, new york, i-81 is like a graveyard of stranded vehicles. in boulder, colorado, the temperature is near zero. this delivery truck is stuck. pinched up alongside another car. >> i slipped into his acura. >> deicing at airports, but flights were cancelled. and in the south georgia transportation crews preparing to pretreat roads for the new system moving in. >> here in boulder all this snow has closed city offices and left cars buried. they'll be digging out here as the southeast is getting hit next. abc news, boulder, colorado. >> those 80 million americans are wondering one thing right now. how much rain or snow will we get, and when will we get it? >> for that let's go to justin. good morning. >> good morning to you. it's been a while since we were talking about plowable snows this far off to the south and later on today into to

some areas throughout the tar hill state will see six inches of snow, some areas more. east toward raleigh durham and heading to south eastern virginia. meanwhile the west coast, a break right now. look at this. here comes the next storm. tropical moisture, flooding rains and flooding rains. >> turning to the deadly attack in turkey. there's new evidence that a much larger assault was being planned. yesterday's detonation of a car packed with explosives outside a courthouse killed a police officer and a court official. it also wounded at least ten other people. two attackers were killed in a shootout with police and a third suspect is at large. a war of words between leaders of al qaeda and isis. in a new message al qaeda's chief is accusing the isis leader of slandering his group and urged isis jihadists to stop attacking soft targets and

soft targets like markets own mosques and instead concentrate on military and police forces. in chicago the four people accused of torturing a man and streaming it live on facebook are now facing hate crime charges. investigators say the four suspects who are black targeted their white victim because of his race and his disability. the victim is recovering at home with his family who say they are grateful for the outpouring of concern. >> we are overwhelmed and surprised. we're happy that everyone is concerned, and yeah. this should never happen. in an interview with our station in chicago president obama said he has seen the disturbing video calling the attack a horrific hate crime. and the president also says that just because the attack went viral does not mean that race relations have gotten worse. the four people charged are set to make their court appearance later today. the president is speaking

out after receiving a briefing that russia mettlled in the election before the officials are set out to lay out the same classified findings for donald trump. the president-elect has cast doubt, but president obama says he hopes tensions between trump and the intelligence community will be reduced once trump sees how effective they are. but vice president biden wasn't so diplomatic. >> grow up, donald, grow up. time to be an adult. you're president. you got to do something. show us what you have. >> joe biden not big on sugar coating. >> not at all. >> donald trump tweeted yesterday that he was a big fan of intelligence but in the later tweet he questioned how they could be so sure russia was behind the hacking if they hadn't examined democratic party servers. women's rights

promising a major fight as congress looks to defund planned parenthood. the house speaker plans to use an anti-abortion provision to strip planned parenthood of funding. most of the federal funds go toward preventive health care. the hotly contested bathroom bill has been filed at the texas state capital. the texas privacy act prohibits local places of having buildings regulating bathrooms. it would relegating bathroom use based on a person's sex at birth. supporters say the bill is about protecting privacy. opponents say it discriminates against transgender people. and protest groups against that issue and any other will have their say during the inauguration. >> the national park agency faced a lawsuit if it didn't allow demonstrators access.

house. about 30 groups have applied. some folks are taking a mel -- mellow approach to inauguration day. i'd say so. a marijuana advocacy group plans to hand out free joints before marching to the national mall. >> the group's leader is not encourage people to smoke them which would be against the dc law, but he called lighting up a great act of civil disobedience due to donald trump's silence on marijuana reform. hot dog vendors are taking up business in d.c. as we speak. >> it's going to be the slowest march on washington we've ever seen. >> i was going to go protest but -- >> are we moving really fast or -- >> all right. from marijuana to cocktails. >> yes, there are many. we have a very early happy hour right now with america's ceo, chief entertaining officer, tim laird who is keeping bar over

>> tim is keeping our drinks cool on the side for us because we still have a show to do so we cannot partake yet, but we're going to take some fun looks at our favorite moments from the show as well as some special messages from past anchors. >> stay with us. the celebration continues right here. we are partying like it's 1992. so that means we'll do the walk. how do you become america's #1? start by taking care of families for 70 years. earn the trust of 32 nfl teams. be there for america's toughest and help, when help is needed america's #1 isn't a status earned overnight. it's earned in every wash, and re-earned every day. tide, america's #1 detergent

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ah, that stuff only lasts a few hours. or, take mucinex. one pill fights congestion for 12 hours. no thank you very much, she's gonna stick with the short-term stuff. 12 hours? guess i won't be seeing you for a while. is that a bisque? i just lost my appetite. why take medicines that only last 4 hours, when just one mucinex lasts 12 hours? start the relief. ditch the misery. let's end this. ialmost everything. you know, ke 1 i n 10 houses could get hit by an expensive septic disaster. but for only $7 a month, rid-x helps break down waste. avoid a septic disaster with rid-x. you knmegared omega-3s...

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>> that was spectacular. >> the squirrel was eating the paint brush. >> you know, i -- only thing nuttier in this world was the woman who was sitting there painting with it. >> i love -- i just love rob's honesty. it just came out raw at these hours. >> he has no filter. which is good for the show. >> i try to apply one. doesn't work. rob doesn't have one out all. >> rob now anchors the news at our nation in new york. he had this message for his wnn fans. >> greetings to the insomniac nation. it is crazy to me. i remember being on the set 20th anniversary. it was paula ferris's first week and it was the 20th anniversary. i can't believe it's been five years and now you're finally old enough to rent a car. such a cool anniversary. thank you for letting me be a part of it.

since i left, it was an amazing experience, not just the behind the scenes crew and the news we got to cover, but some of the wild, wild stuff we could get away with because the executives weren't watching. i do think once or twice i did some fairly memorable things on the show that i probably will never, ever again do in television. i just don't seem to remember what they could have been. but i guess you're about to go to the tape. >> see? there you go. >> right. >> okay. >> oh, man. >> i'm going to read you this. it's about predicting the election. who voters really like. [ laughter ] >> only me. come on, girl. >> the world news afterschool special. safe sex. >> oh.

>> so lovely. oh oh, that's not the mike. >> that's what i'm talking about. there we go. >> oh, that way. >> if you like breast milk put your hands up. let me hear you. >> we have so much fun here, don't we? ♪ >> the "world news now" internship program, this is -- >> come on. we got to get into it. >> you got to bust out. whoo. hey. >> and after all that, i still somehow have a job in television. in all seriousness, though, it's that kind of zaniness and irreverence that makes "world news now" what it is.

program out there. i'm also on a final note hearing rumors that my cutout on my farewell show almost four years ago still haunts the abc building. and kendis and diane also had it on the set with them. i want to thank you for letting the spirit, the cardboard spirit of rob nelson still haunt "world news now," and at this age, it's nice to know that i can stay erect that long. >> oh, my god. >> that's what i'm talking about. and on that note, happy birthday. and many more. >> rob. >> bravo. >> of course you go out with that joke. that's incredible. >> rob, you know, he's kind of like hung out in the rafters all this time. >> i also like that rob is ying we appreciate that we were letting his spirit onto the show. there's no stifling rob nelson's spirit whether he's in the room or not, but flat rob, we quite appreciate you being with us, and you're looking good.

you look a little flat today. very one dimensional. >> we have some more surprises when we come back, plus lisa mckree is with tim in the insomniac lounge. rob needs a drink. you're watching "world news now." "world news now" continues after this from our abc stations. "world news now"

oh, look at that. look at the hair game there. that is a beautiful, smart, intelligent david muir years before he delivered the news to millions, he delivered it to thousands right here on "world news now." >> delivered the news. the david muir has done okay for himself since those days, but like many who have left this desk for bigger things, he looks back at his time here with good memories. >> it's been a while since i've been on the air at this hour. it comes back. once you do time on the overnights, you don't forget. i remember my office used to be up there. i'd run down about 2:00 in the morning, and this coffee now that i drink during world news tonight would never be enough. same direct. same desk. let's see, i must have left this behind. this is about the size coffee you need to get through, and i

these are hand drawn weather maps. it's a long story, but yes, we did the weather one night. i held them up next to me. we did our own maps because we had no power for graphics, but we powered through. that's what it means to be on the overnights. you power through. the team tough, smart, irreverent and sleep deprived but once you get off the overnights you still don't get much sleep. keep making each other laugh because 25 never looked so good. >> thanks to david. >> i gave a try at my own map. >> the graphics haven't changed much since then. have you seen our budget? neither have the bean counters. >> a big thank you to david. now let's go to our insomniac lounge. >> i'm sorry. we're working on commerce. we're trying to raise a little extra coin for your flimsy budget. i decided if willis could do the ring tone and you could sell it, right?

>> i would buy it. >> that is a signature laugh. i love willis in the lounge. >> willis ring tone. $1.99. >> only 12 left. >> only 12 left and you'll get a "world news now" coffee mug as well. >> wait, we're also going to throw in a cosmo, a fun updated cocktail, lisa. stay with us. this is a great drink. 25 years ago the cosmopolitan was the drink of the time. i'm going to use tangerine vodka, an orange liquor. a blue ciraco. >> i thought that was nyquil. >> i wanted that wnn color. look at this. >> but that was the drink of choice for the show. >> it was. that is releasing some secrets to the show. anyway, and a little bit of white cranbe

just cranberry and a squeeze of lime. that is important for this. and david was saying can i have one? >> but we only have 59 seconds. >> still producing. let it go. >> cheers. >> that's what i need. >> there you go. the wnn celebration lounge is open. cheers. rob always comes to the bar. he's always at the bar. rob always loves the lounge. he never misses a cocktail. hello, rob. absolutely. >> should we wake up barbara walters? she's under the desk too. >> we'll have barry's very special polka. >> a special polka. >> it's always fun. it's always fun. polka, cosmos. what a party. cheers. cheers.

.

and my cold medicines' ugh, iwearing off.chtime i'm dragging. yeah, that stuff only lasts a few hours. or, take mucinex. one pill fights congestion for 12 hours. no thank you very much, she's gonna stick with the short-term stuff. 12 hours? guess i won't be seeing you for a while. is that a bisque? i just lost my appetite. why take medicines that only last 4 hours, when just one mucinex lasts 12 hours? start the relief. ditch the misery. let's end this. ltry align probiotic.n your digestive system? for a non-stop, sweet treat goodness, hold on to your tiara kind of day. get 24/7 digestive support, with align. the #1 doctor recommended probiotic brand. now in kids chewables. from surfaces for up to 48 hours. you can pick up the flu it's like having a sick family member in your home. but lysol kills 99.9% of germs including 8 cold and flu viruses.

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olay ageless. >> somebody >> somebody wanted the lyrics to the world news polka, and it was a woman pregnant and going through labor, and got through it by singing the world news polka. >> it's the alternative pain thing. focus on one pain and the other isn't bad. >> when i think barry mitchel, i think epesiotomy. >> explain. >> i have no explanation. >> which is a very standard response to a lot of things on this show. >> it was late at night. people weren't wearing pants. and they were all alone. we had our "world news now" mug and everybody danced. >> sort of like elmo right about now. >> we have heard so many great lines from the word news polka.

it's hard to pick the best one. we decided not to. we bring you the ultimate polka. ♪ politics and foreign wars all the weather all the scores ♪ ♪ that's the world news polka. tapes that roll in way too slow. that's the world news polka ♪ ♪ around the world and up your street ♪ "the skinny" is our gossip. that's the world news polka ♪ ♪ i've had worse things thrown at me. don't worry ♪ ♪ ♪ that's the world news polka ♪ it's late at night you're wide awake and you're not wearing pants so grab your world news now mug and everybody dance ♪ have some fun, be a pal and do the world news polka.

♪ they're a goofy crew and if your neighbors call the cop here's all you have to do. neighbors yell it's half past three. tell them that it's news to me. that's the world news polka. they make us work the graveyard shift. that's why we go for broke ♪ ♪ why not tune in abc and join our little joke ♪ news five days a week tongue and week it's the world news polka ♪ ♪ it's the world news polka >> yeah. barry mitchel. great. >> barry, do you have a -- >> by the way, can i apologize? >> our executive producer. >> too late for that now. barry, any favorite polka moments? >> well, certainly weird al because he's been an idol of mine. that would be one of them, and the dixie chicks.