p making news in america this pmorning, double edge storm. pheavy winds and torrential rains pin the east leave thousands pwithout power overnight and pcommunities in the south are pstunned by the deadly pdestruction as the midwest is phit hard by whiteout conditions. pwe have the latest on the storm ptrack. p privacy fight. pceo tim cook telling abc news pthat apple is standing firm pagainst the government despite pthat order to access a pterrorist's iphone. p>> this is not about one phone. pthis is about the future. p>> the abc news exclusive pinterview just ahead. p fighting the flu in the pdepths of the season. psome encouraging news about this pyear's vaccine.

pone if you haven't. p and, oh, boy, pants on fire. pa small explosion in a store pcaught on security camera, and, pno, that is not money burning a phole in his pocket. p well, good thursday morning. pmillions of americans are preeling from the vicious storms phammering the eastern two-thirds pof the country. p>> along the mid-atlantic, pvirginia is under a state of pemergency this morning where ptornadoes and thunderstorms have pleft at least four people dead. ptens of thousands are still pwithout power, and roadways are pflooded. p>> and in the midwest phuge mess. pnearly a foot of wet, heavy snow pblanketed roads and knocked out ower. pdrivers planning to head out pcareful of dangerously icy pconditions created by frigid ptemperatures overnight.

pairports have been canceled so pfar, which is likely to impact pair travel across the country ptoday. pand on the ground the full peffect of the devastating storms pand the massive cleanup ahead pare just starting to unfold. povernight, millions of americans phit hard as a deadly winter pstorm continues its march north. ptorrential rains flooding the pmid-atlantic to the northeast. pthe downpours creating flash pfloods, washing away cars and pcreating a mess for the d.c. parea. p>> i thinking like i called god pto help me and prayed. p>> reporter: in new york heavy pwinds overturned this truck on pthe george washington bridge. pthis time lapse shows the storm pmoving into charlotte, north pcarolina. pstrong winds toppling trees, phomes and power lines there. pmore than 160,000 people without ower across 7 states. pit's the same system that pspawned terrifying twisters. pin virginia, a state of pemergency in effect.

pyoung child. p>> the only thing we heard was pa 2-year-old baby was found in pthe woods. p>> reporter: that baby and two pothers pronounced dead. p>> this is devastating. p>> reporter: across the region pmore than 30 tornadoes in the plast day alone, first tearing pacross louisiana destroying this prv park. p>> god let us be okay. plet us get through this. p>> reporter: and on the back pside of this massive storm, pblizzard conditions across the pmidwest. p>> if you don't need to make the ptrip, don't make the trip today. p>> reporter: in parts of pillinois and indiana, nearly pwhiteout conditions making ptravel extra difficult. pand that area, by the way, is in pfor more snow today. ptake a look, but it's not pexpected to be quite as heavy pwith the snow showers continuing paround the great lakes and ptemperatures will move back up pinto the 30s. p>> in the mid-atlantic and pnortheast plan on mostly dry pconditions although temperatures pwill be a bit cooler.

prepublicans preparing to face poff in houston tonight. ptheir final debate before super ptuesday. p>> after his landslide victory pin nevada, donald trump is now ptangling with mitt romney over phis tax returns, but he's also ptrading jabs with the other gop pcandidates who are struggling to pcatch up. p>> it's "your voice, your vote." pwe get the latest from abc's pkenneth moton. pgood morning, kenneth. p>> reporter: good morning, reena pand kendis. pit is a case of irony. pmillionaire mitt romney was pcriticized in 2012 pabout his own tax returns but pnow he's making similar attacks pagainst billionaire donald ptrump. phours before severe weather pripped through virginia povernight, donald trump was on pthe ground rallying supporters, ptalking running mates. p>> i do want somebody that's olitical because i want to get pwe all want passed. p>> reporter: trump was a no-show pfor a republican town hall on pfox news hosted by megyn kelly pthe gop front-runner. pthe candidates lined up as they pworked to take down trump. p>> we are not going to allow the pconservative movement to be

pisn't a conservative. p>> reporter: all four promise to prelease tax returns this week pafter mitt romney called on them pto do so. pthe 2012 gop nominee even said phe believes there's a quote pbombshell in trump's taxes. p>> when people decide they don't pwant to give you their taxes pit's usually because there's psomething they don't want you to psee. p>> reporter: trump went on the pattack and tweeted mitt romney pwho totally blew an election pthat should have been won and pwhose tax returns made him look plike a fool is now playing tough pguy. p>> well, hello. palpha kappa alpha. p>> reporter: fewer pfireworks from the democratic pside. phillary clinton made her case pat the sisters of aka pahead of saturday's south pcarolina primary. pbernie sanders who is struggling pwith black voters there moved on pto super tuesday states drawing p9,000 people to his rally in ptulsa, oklahoma. pas for trump's taxes he says pthere is no bombshell other than phe pays a lot. pthe republicans will debate ptonight on cnn in the super pgovernor just endorsed his

preena and kendis. p>> all right, it's coming down pto the wire definitely for them. pabc's kenneth moton pfor us this morning, thank you. p new developments this resident obama's pick for the psupreme court. psources tell abc news the resident is considering a prepublican. pnevada governor pbrian sandoval as the nominee. psandoval is a former pfederal judge who supports phis nomination could be seen as pan overture to republican plawmakers who vowed to block the resident's choice. ptop senate republicans will meet pwith the president next week. p and access to abortion pclinics may soon be limited in plouisiana. pa federal appeals court has prefused to block a new law which padvocates say will force clinics pin the state to close. pthat law requires doctors who rovide abortions to have padmitting privileges at phospitals within 30 miles. pa group supporting abortion

pcase to the supreme court. pwhere a cease-fire in the civil pwar is set to take effect psaturday morning. pit allows aid to reach remote pareas. phere at home there are growing pcalls to establish a so-called psafe zone in northern syria pif the cease-fire fails. pjohn kerry told top lawmakers pthat such a zone pground troops to maintain. p a new isis video in the pmeantime threatens the lives of pfacebook founder mark zuckerberg pand jack dorsey, the head of ptwitter. pthe 25-minute video is too pdisturbing to show. pit includes pictures of the two pmen covered in bullet holes. pisis says it is responding to pefforts by facebook and twitter pto suspend accounts and remove osts that promote terrorism. p well, still ahead, our pexclusive with apple ceo tim pcook speaking for the first time pabout apple's legal showdown pwith the fbi. p but first tearful testimony

pshe's a shell of her former self pafter nude photos leaked online. p and america, we're no longer phome to the most billionaires so pcan you guess which country has pbeat the u.s.? make it a point to shop kohl's... this thursday through monday!... because yes2you rewards members take an extra 20% off!... and earn triple points - no matter how you pay! get a $5 reward for every 100 points. plus - everyone gets $10 kohl's cash for every $50 spent! you can earn and redeem rewards points and kohl's cash throughout the store! there's no better time to sign up!... anyone can - it's quick and it's easy! enroll, save and start racking up the points today! kohl's. i've been claritin clear for 14 days. 5{ when your allergyr symptoms start... ...doctors recommend taking one claritin every day of your allergy season... ...for continuous relief. with powerful, 24 hour... ...non-drowsy claritin, live claritin clear.

rcrisp garden vegetables. r no artificial flavors. philadelphia r garden vegetable. trich, creamy... t...and delicious nothing else tastes like philadelphia . my moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis made a simple trip to the grocery store anything but simple. so finally, i had an important conversation with my dermatologist about humira. he explained that humira works inside my body to target and help block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to my symptoms. in clinical trials, most adults saw 75% skin clearance. and the majority were clear or almost clear in just 4 months. to fight infections, serious, sometimes fatal including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if where certain fungal

and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. ask your dermatologist about humira. because with humira clearer skin is possible. p those charging elephants in pafrica were chasing arizona psenator jeff flake and some pothers during their trip to pafrica. plast week pduring a boat ride a hippo pshowed off teeth. pthe purpose of his trip was to plearn more about wildlife oaching. p well, new details in pkesha's legal battle. pabc news has obtained video pdenying that she ever had sexual prelations with music producer pdr. luke. pkesha is suing claiming he psexually abused her and she pwants out of her recording

pthe video was taken during a pdeposition five years ago. pa judge ruled friday that kesha pmust follow through on the pcontract but she doesn't phave to work with dr. luke. pkesha has garnered support from pother top singers pincluding taylor swift, lady pgaga and just last night adele. p well, emotional testimony pfrom the father of sportscaster perin andrews. pandrews choked up as her dad ptearfully told the court that phis daughter was a shell pof her former self. phe said pall she did was cry after pdiscovering a stalker had posted pvideos of her online. pandrews is suing david michael pbarrett and the pmarriott for $75 million. p they're mourning a loss of pnate kerrigan, pa veteran law enforcement pofficer who died while carrying pout a high-risk eviction. ptwo other deputies were hurt pwhich killed the homeowner.

ponline rants against the police. p and in austin, texas, a olice sniper who shot and pkilled an armed suspect will not pbe charged. pnewly released video from a year pago shows 27-year-old sawyer pflash repeatedly firing at a olice helicopter as it hovered pover his house. pthat's when the officer moved in pand shot him in the head. phis two young daughters were psleeping inside. p well, the u.s. is no longer phome to the most billionaires in pthe world. pthat distinction now goes to pchina now. paccording to a newly released pannual list, 90 new chinese pbillionaires moved to china -- pmoved china into first place by pa margin of 33 billionaires. pbeijing is the city with the pmost billionaires with 100. pthat's five more than new york. p>> see, donald trump is going to psay, i was right all along. pit's china. p>> china. p well, when we come back, the pexclusive interview with apple's pceo tim cook arguing that their pbattle with the fbi isn't just pover privacy, but security, as pwell. p and promising new pinformation regarding this pseason's flu vaccine. pwhat you need to know.

and i've also got a brain. life's short, talk is cheap. i'll be working while you sleep. still don't think i've got a brain? you think a resume's enough? who'll step up when things get tough? don't you want that kind of brain? a degree is a degree. you're gonna want someone like me. but only if you have a brain. (vo) if you have type 2 diabetes, you may know what it's like to deal with high... and low blood sugar. januvia (sitagliptin) is a once-daily pill that, along with diet and exercise, januvia works when your blood sugar is high and works less when your blood sugar is low, because it works by enhancing your body's own ability to lower blood sugar. plus januvia, by itself, is not or low blood sugar januvia should not be used in patients with type 1 diabetes tell your doctor if you have a serious side effects can happen,

which may be severe and lead to death. stop taking januvia and call your doctor right away if you have severe pain in your stomach area which may be pancreatitis. tell your doctor right away and stop taking januvia if you have an allergic reaction that causes swelling of the face, lips, tongue, or throat, or affects your breathing or p kidney problems sometimes r p rcall your doctor if this using januvia with a p may cause low blood sugar. to reduce the risk, your doctor may p prescribe a lower dose of the sulfonylurea or insulin. your doctor may do blood tests before and during treatment to check your kidneys. if you have kidney problems a lower dose may be prescribed. side effects may include upper respiratory tract infection, stuffy or runny nose, sore throat, and headache. for help lowering your blood sugar talk to your doctor about

p jane' s always on the move. smoothie can keep up with her. packed with 12grams of protein and no added sugar. so she can watch her calories and where she' s going. light & fit feel free to enjoy. p so, a passenger on board a lane captured this dark image pof turbulent storm clouds swept pup by a tornado that hit plouisiana. pthe twister was part of that pbigger deadly storm that's been ptearing up parts of the south pand mid-atlantic states. p that same system is creating pdicey conditions for this pmorning's commute. pwatch out for icy or wet roads pfrom the great lakes stretching psouth to northern tennessee. p and if you're flying, likely pto find airport delays today in

p well, now to that abc news pexclusive. papple's ceo tim cook's first pinterview. p cook tells david muir that pdoing so would make hundreds of pmillions of customers vulnerable pto hackers. pthe only way we know would be to pwrite a piece of software that pwe view as sort of the software pequivalent of cancer. pwe think it's bad news to write. pwe would never write it. pwe have never written it, and pthat is what is at stake here. p>> the fbi though says it pbelieves that syed farook used pthat phone to communicate with phis wife his accomplice and i'm pcurious, do you struggle at all pwith the possibility there could pbe information on that phone pthat could reveal other plot, pother people who were involved pattack? p>> david, if we knew a way to pget the information on the phone pthat we haven't already given, pif we knew a way to do in that

pmillions of other people to pissues, we would obviously do pit. p>> i want to get to what the fbi pdirector james comey said. phe said it's not about a pslippery quote but 14 were pslaughtered and many more had ptheir lives ruined. pmany the phone holds the clue pbut we can't look the psurvivorses in the eye or pourselves if we don't follow any ossible lead out there. pdo you understand where he's pcoming from. p>> i do and this is an pincredibly complex issue to lace a back door in the iphone. pwe believe it does put hundreds pof millions of customers at prisk. pthere's probably more pinformation about you on your hone than there is in your phouse. pour smartphones are loaded with pour intimate conversations, ow pfinancial data, our health precords, they're also loaded pwith the location of our kids in pmany cases and so it's not just pabout privacy, but it's also pabout public safety. p>> but this your quiet moments

pmight be able to prevent a pterrorist attack by breaking pinto that phone? p>> david, some things are hard pand some things are right and psome things are both. pthis is one of those things. p>> and in this case you believe pthere are some things that just pshould never be created. p>> correct. p>> apple has until tomorrow to pfile its legal response to the pcase. pin response to cook's comments pthe senior government official ptells us the fbi wants apple to pdevelop a way into the phone pthat will only be known to the pcompany itself and no one else. pas for cook's suggestion pcongress resolve the dispute the pofficial claims that would take ptoo long. p now to some encouraging news pabout this year's flu vaccine. pit's doing better than last pyear's vaccine. reliminary information from the pcenters for disease control pfinds it is 59% effective. pa big improvement over last pyear's results showing only 20% peffectiveness. phealth officials say that we've

pyear, but they warn it has not eaked as yet. p to a frightening scene pcaught on camera at a gas pstation in kentucky. pan e-cigarette battery exploded pin a man's pocket. pjosh hamilton was shocked when phis pants burst into flames as phe ran from the store in panic. pa clerk followed him with a fire pextinguisher and put out the pflames. phamilton suffered serious burns pon his leg, but he is expected pto be okay. pright. p police in ohio are on the plookout for a man they've dubbed pthe rogaine robber. pthe bald bandit is accused of pstealing the hair growth drug pbuckeye state. pcops say it's likely he's trying pto resell the stolen rogaine pmarkets. pthey don't believe he's using pany of the products on himself pdespite his bald head. p>> okay, well, coming up, coming pback down to earth astronaut pscott kelly ready to come home pbut not without helping us take pa giant leap towards mars.

pfacebook reaction to our pfavorite options that didn't pmake the cut. ness. pbut i really love it. i'm on the movepall day long... and sometimes, i just don'tp eat the way i should. so i drink boost to get thepnutrition that i'm missing. boost ncomplete nutritional drink has 26 essential vitaminsr and minerals, including calcium and vitaminp d to support strong bones and 10 grams of proteinnto help maintain muscle. all with ar great taste. i don't plan on slowing downt any time soon. look for savings on boost r in your sunday paper. p working on my feet all day gave me pain here. in my lower back but now, i step on this machine and get my number pwhich matches my dr. scholl's custom fit orthotic inserts. now i get immediate relief from my foot pain. my lower back pain. find a machine at drscholls.com p jane likes to mix things up. that' s why she loves new light &pfit greek non-fat yogurt mousse. p so fluffy and airy it' s her

p p topping our look at the "the ulse" our conversation with the pman who spent nearly a year in pspace. p>> astronaut scott kelly is pwrapping up his visit to the pinternational space station and preturns to earth next tuesday. p>> okay, so among the insights phe shared with our david kerley pwho covers transportation for us pthe monotony of being cooped up pday after day, but there are the pincredible sunsets and he pdoesn't mind the food but misses psitting down at a table to eat. phe also talked about the ossibility of a trip to mars. p>> think absolutely i feel -- i pfeel great, but, you know, there

pmars that we need to work on, povercoming but it's something i phope to see in my lifetime. p>> i love his passion. pby the way, nasa scientists are pexploring the possibility that plasers could shorten the trip to pthe red planet to just three pdays. p>> wow, very cool. p when kelly lands he and his ptwin brother mark of course, a pretired astronaut will face a pbattery of tests to see how pscott's body held up to 11 pmonths of space compared to mark pwho's been down here on the pground. p>> it'll be a huge homecoming. p reaction ng to reactions pgetting used to the new button poptions. p>> those are them. pthe social media giant has pcompletely revamped its feedback psystem revamping its like button pand expanding by adding the pability to love and you can also puse a series of emojis including pha, ha and wow and sad face and pwhat is sure to be the new pfavorite one, an angry reaction. p>> i'm just glad there's no

pi like the positivity than the pnegativity. p there are some suggestions pfloating around ever since pfacebook made the move like this pone that apparently says you are pinsufferable. p>> you make me want to puke. p>> how about cringe. pthis would work well for some of pthe things i see on my feed pevery day or how about simply pdrunk. p>> drunk. p>> i've been drinking. psomebody's been drinking with pthat one. p okay, so we all have those pfavorite foods that we really pdon't like to share. pmaybe a plate of french fries pyou plan to consume till the plast one is gone. p>> that includes this panda. penjoying a fist food of bamboo proot. pthe small one is thinking i'd plike to take a bite of that. ptry snatching it away. pclearly that won't happen. psee the foot that went up there. pso the bigger one doesn't miss a pbeat fighting off the younger's padvances. p>> wow. phe's going to smack him away. pdoesn't want to share. p>> wow. pthat is one panda smackdown. p>> that is how i am about pizza.

p>> your bamboo root is pizza. p>> yes. p>> more news, folk, after this. karl, don't you haver friends coming over? t yeah, so? it stinks in here. you'vep got to wash this whole room p are you kidding? wash it? p let's wash it with febreze. for all the things your can't wash, use... p ...febreze fabric refresher v whoa they mrs. webber v inhales hey, it smells nice in here p and try pluggable febreze... ...to continuously eliminatet odors for... ...up to 45 days oft freshness pluggable febreze and fabric refresher... ...[inhale + exhale mnemonic]... ... , two more ways to breathe happy r eucerin intensive repair r doesn't just moisturizet dry skin, p it intensively repairs it. with a unique triplet action formula t that exfoliates v

and fortifies skin. leaving it looking healthyt and radiant. p with intensive repair, from eucerin. p this is the joy for me. t i love bread! t i love bread. i now just manage it, so irdon't deny myself bread, r i have bread everyday. that's the genius oft this program. p i lost 26 pounds and i have

p taking a look at our top pstory, donald trump firing back pat mitt romney after romney pchallenged him to release his ptax returns. promney believes there may be a pbombshell in trump's taxes. pthe republicans debate tonight pin houston. p a new isis video threatens pmark zuckerberg and jack dorsey, pthe head of twitter. pisis says it's responding to panti-terror efforts by the two ptech giants. pdestruction. ptornadoes killing at least four eople in virginia while nearly pa foot of wind and snow cause pflight cancellations and pimpassable roads in the midwest. p looking at today's weather, pdry and warming up in the west. psnow showers around the great plakes. pmostly dry in the east and deep pdown in the south it looks like pit's going to be kind of nice. p>> not bad at awe.

pcount down to sunday night's poscars we take a glimpse behind pthe scenes. p>> and when it all comes down to pit it revolves around what's in pthe envelope. pbrandi hitt. p>> reporter: they are the best psecret keepers in hollywood. pmartha ruiz and brian cohen set pto carry those famous pbriefcases. p>> and the oscar goes to -- p>> reporter: holding the names. phas there ever been a mistake. p>> no. p>> reporter: price waterhouse pcoopers has counted the oscar pballots. p6,261 sent out on paper and ponline. p>> we control everything from pthe time they go out indicated pwith security codes and those pcome back to us. pwe then have those in an un pundisclosed location. p>> reporter: inside that secret pun pundisclosed location security is ptight. pthere's a specialized alarm

joe biometric locks, pno internet access and they're pcounted by hand. p>> we make sure we're going pthrough their pile, counting pthat and recounting that. pwe will stuff the envelope, pclose it, seal it with the red. p>> reporter: those 24 winning penvelopes and a duplicate set pare then loaded into two brief pbriefcases like this, both are plocked in a vault until oscar psunday when ruiz and cohen enter ptheir code and take their pbriefcase. peach then traveling a different proute to the oscar red carpet pescorted by los angeles police. p>> no matter what happens, at pleast one of us will get there. p>> reporter: do you feel like p007 a little bit? p>> i little bit. p>> reporter: last year as a pspoof they carried a third pbriefcase used by host neil atrick harris and backstage pthey only hand the envelope to pthe presenter just seconds pbefore the announcement. pis this the hardest secret to pkeep? p>> it's a big important secret. pthe reality is, there's a secret pwe keep forever and that is who

p>> reporter: brandi hitt, abc pnews, los angeles. p>> very intriguing. pabc is the place to be on oscar pnight, sunday at 7:00 eastern p>> heavy rain and thunderstorms povernight. pwarmer air will move in. phow high temperatures will go. perin: the storms are bringing pdown trees and knocking out ower, keeping police and putility crews busy, leaving pbehind a mess to clean. pkevin: this same storm system is pcausing a mess in the east pthere' s so much damage in one povernight curfew was imposed. perin: a data breach at a phospital that affects every pemployee, but no patients. p>> no one covers new hampshire