good tuesday morning, coming up on "early today." winter plunge. major snow and friged temperatures are alead. black widow's search officials are searching for suicide bombers that may be planning an attack on the olympics. new jersey's chris christie prepares to be sworn in for a second term. plus a shooter remains at large as a college student fights for his life. >> is pope francis about to loosen up on reforms for the catholic church and the glowi co

early this year, remember we had polar vortex part one. here comes part two. because winter came early people had been using a lot more propane to keep themselves warm and now there's a shortage as we head into this next round of winter weather. in wisconsin, for example, some companies are only filling tanks half and they're limiting sales. we have seen prices up almost 46% over last year. some people said their bills have doubled. applications for home heating

assistance are up. in 15 states they're easing the limits on drivers so the drivers of propane can drive longer and try to truck it into the place where is they need it most. betty. >> all right. we'll get prepared. thank you tracy. we appreciate that. now to russia where there is a terror threat ahead of the olympic games in sochi. the search is on for as many as four so-called black widows. female suicide bombers that maybe assigned to carry out attacks at the olympics. u.s. air and naval assistance including two naval ships in the black sea will be available if evacuations are necessary. nbc's chief foreign corr address responde -- correspondence has much. >> reporter: they search for as many as four womens, suspected

suicide bombers planning an attack on the olympics. police distributed wanted posters. she is the so-called black widow. she reportedly got that scar on her cheek from a raid by russian forces last year. her husband was killed. all of this follows a threat from the grave. two men in the video claiming they're preparing to carry out last month's suicide attack and warning of attacks on the olympics to come. they come from dagestan. we recently visited dagestan, a poor muslim republic where many hate vladimir putin and want independence from russia. u.s. officials claim they're not getting enough security cooperation from russia. they worried that sochi doesn't have the infrastructure in place. the roads to manage a crisis

should one occur. later today new jersey governor chris christie officially begins his second term but a slew of allegations from his first term are sure to follow him. the latest is a case of she said she said involving christie's top lieutenant and a small town mayor with a big accusation. kelly o'donnell has that report. >> reporter: new jersey's lieutenant governor joined volunteers at an event and hammered at a new political crisis. >> the suggestion that anyone would hold back sandy relief funds for any reason is wholly and completely false. >> reporter: that allegation comes from hoboken major dawn zimmer who went on television and met with the u.s. attorneys office. zimmer claims that last may the lieutenant governor and another top official, richard constable

seen with the governor last week, both told her relief funds would be held up unless zimmer backed a major commercial development. >> he said i know it's not right and they shouldn't be connected but if you tell anybody i'll deny it. >> i'm very surprised by the mayor's allegations and i deny wholeheartedly those allegations. >> reporter: constable called the allegations patently false and absurd. the lieutenant governor wouldn't take questions. >> why would she make these allegations? >> reporter: zimmer says she is disappointed in guadagno's response but stands by her word. today on a conference call a christie recovery official said the administration helped deliver $70 million in mostly federal aid to hoboken residents

and businesses. >> i'm scratching my head about any community getting the short end of the stick. >> reporter: zimmer requested an additional $95 million to prevent future storm damage. not sandy relief. the administration says that's about one third of what's available for the whole state. >> and that was nbc's kelly o'donnell reporting. also this morning, the cause of a deadly plant explosion in omaha, nebraska is still unknown. two people were killed and 36 others were injured inside the animal feed plant monday morning. 10 were hospitalized with significant injuries. after the blast, the second and third floors collapsed. firefighters had to use the jaws of life to rescue one person from the concrete and steel. >> our official crews performed with incredibly bravery. they did a tremendous job and i'm grateful for what they did today. >> severe weather halted the recovery operation overnight but it will resume this morning. and speaking of severe weather,

bill karins is back. polar vortex part two. is that what this is? >> do something more fun like polar plunge. >> that doesn't sound fun either. >> no it doesn't. there's a negative 31 in fargo for the wind chill. actually, minus 31 in crane lake, minnesota. this is dangerously cold air coming behind the winter storm. des moines, look at kansas city, minus 12. chicago minus 14 and you have snow with that in chicago. this is really the cold combined with the snow that's not going to be fun today either. as we go through the next couple of days, the purple and white is the coldest of cold air. still centers from new england. a lite break in the central plains by friday. but then over the weekend it makes another dive at us again. so it doesn't go away any time soon.

especially over the next week. that's your national forecast. now, here's a look at the weather outside your window. so today areas like baltimore, washington d.c., the timing of your snow appears as we go throughout the mid morning, right after the morning rush is when your snow will begin. you'll get to work and school fine. getting home, a different story. of course snow can be fun too. steamboat springs, they take all the best rodeo cowboys and they put them on skis. these are professional rodeo stars with the lasso and all having fun on the snow. >> i don't know if the horse was having that much fun but the cowboys are. >> they're never afraid to fall either. >> that's right. because they're used to it. a creative idea to pay down the college debt and is the economy about to get billions. >> plus an american hostage in north korea speaks out. you're watching "early today." and "sheesh, i should've looked some more."

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welcome back, everyone. a student at pennsylvania's widener university is in surgery after being shot on campus. the campus is on lock down until 6:00 a.m. this morning and right now police do not believe the shooter is still on campus. crippling economic sanctions against iran are being lifted now that they're scaling back the nuclear program. it will allow them access to billions of dollars that have frozen. iran must continue to be transparent about it's nuclear program. kenneth bay, the u.s. citizen held in north carolina for more than a year, well he appeared in camera monday to deliver a plea for help from the u.s. government. in his preapproved statement he said he committed acts against the north korean government in which he is serving a sentence of 15 years hard labor. >> and a sun dog. check this out. it appeared in moscow over the

weekend. that is phenomenal. it is caused by light refracturing through ice crystals. so the stock market reopens after monday's mlk day and i want to tell you about this, two mexican citizens were arrested trying to cross into texas with nearly 100 fraudulent credit cards. federal officials confirmed there's no connection to the target breach as first thought by local police. in south carolina public panic erupts over a massive theft of credit card data. 80 million cards including ratings and monthly card usage were impacted as customers flocked to banks to have their cards reissued. >> for those of you planning an expensive walk down the aisle, there's a growing number of people buying wedding insurance. you can buy policies that protect against bad weather and bankrupt wedding halls and cancellations due to military deployment. but listen up laters, probably not the last minute jitters and

change of heart, that's probably not covered. >> well, one graduating college senior is selling space on his graduation cap to help pay off his 30 grand in college debt. right now the university of michigan student raised about $1,600. not bad. by selling one by one inch squares. good luck to him. sports is just ahead including a college basketball upset and sour grapes served on ice. plus we'll tell you which part of the nfl football could soon be going away. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. yeah. everybody knows that. did you know there is an oldest trick in the book? what? trick number one. look-est over there. ha ha. made-est thou look. so end-eth the trick. hey.... yes....

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good morning once again, everybody. i'm storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell. it is 4:17 on a tuesday morning, the 21st of january. winter storm warnings are up for the entire nbc4 viewing area from basically sun up today until midnight tonight. leading edge of first snowflakes just now inching into far northern and western maryland. light snow out to frostburg and deep creek lake. a few are inching into the shenandoah valley, but the bulk of the snow chance for us is well back to the west. this is the leading edge of what will be a blossoming snowstorm as it gets a little bit more moisture and gets closer to the

coastline. so we'll have to watch this closely. anticipate snowflakes arriving in and around the metro area probably somewhere after you get to work between 9:00 and lunchtime today. obviously, earlier out to the west, but we'll keep a track on this. the winter storm warning impacts will be on at 4:30, we'll be talking about the where, when and how much we'll be getting. winter storm arrives today and will have severe travel impacts by later on this afternoon. the commute in will not be the problem. it will be the commute home later on today. and dangerous cold and extremely low windchills will follow the snowstorm. we'll talk about all this and give you the complete forecast when "news4 today" starts at >> i agree with you. >> richard sherman saved that game with the pass deflection. remember that, that rant after the play about 49er michael crabtree rather stirred some controversy. well, sherman texted this, i apologize for attacking an individual and taking the attention away from the fantastic game by my teammates. that was not my intent.

the 49ers also did pretty well. just not as well. >> the nhl issued a 15-day suspension to the vancouver coach. he tried to get into the flames locker room after the first period after a 10-player brawl broke out on saturday. well, he will now miss six games and will not be able to interact with his team during the suspension. it will be cool runnings for a two-man jamaican bobsledding team heading to the sochi olympics. jamaica, snow, cold. fans donating over $110,000 to send the team to russia. >> all right. >> and finally an olympic warm up race got a little nasty at the end. >> did he just flip him off? >> well, let's watch jimmy fallon. >> look at this photo there. that's what you call killing one stone with two birds. >> today's sports is brought to

you by just for men auto stop. grey is over. >> not only did they flip him off but he did a kick thing. he was mad all around. >> you're number one. >> is that what that is? a double number one. i'll remember that when i see you next. just ahead, while wendy williams had an on-air break down. plus 50 years aft british invasion paul and ringo plan to reunite. details next. no matter how busy your morning you can always do something better for yourself. and better is so easy with benefiber. fiber that's taste-free, grit-free and dissolves completely. so you can feel free to add it to anything. and feel better about doing it. better it with benefiber.

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biggest snowstorm of the winter heading for washington d.c., philadelphia and heavy snow this evening up into southern new england. a widespread 6 to 10 inches from i-95 from d.c. to boston. the peak of it will be from 2:00 p.m. to midnight. that's when you don't want to be on the roads. a lot of places cancelled for today in this region. it will be over with for the morning rush hour tomorrow. that's when the clean up will happen. it will be frigid. >> ringo and paul will be back again. it has been made official by the stars themselves. ringo told "access hollywood" he and paul will be recording a performance for a beatles tribute show set to air in february. wendy williams broke down in tiers on her talk show monday when she said her 13-year-old son doesn't like her. amid gasps from the audience he said it's breaking my heart but perhaps it's just him being a

teenager. the audience tried to cheer her up with clapping. while most beyonce performing at michelle obama's 50th birthday would be a good thing, jimmy fallon saw the down side to it. >> i saw that beyonce performed at michelle obama's party saturday night. there's no better way to spend your 50th than looking at beyonce the whole night. >> that's such a valid point. >> i saw beyonce in the gold stress. >> i heard she sang single ladies too. >> maybe it was michelle's favorite. she requested it. >> perhaps. i'm betty nguyen and this is "early today." we hope it's just your first stop of the day on nbc. what you wear to bed is your business.

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here it comes. we are in for the biggest snowfall in years. heavy snow and frigid air are just hours away. >> this morning, team coverage to get you ready for what's coming. we are watching the roads, the skies as washington prepares for a winter storm. 4:26. good morning, i'm aaron gilchrist. >> and i'm eun yang. this is a live look at capitol hill. all federal offices are closed, and emergency and telework employees must follow their agency's policies. >> a live look at storm team 4

radar for you, we'll show that to you in a minute as we are in the calm before the storm. just a few hours to go in our area that is set to see the heaviest snowfall in three years that could make for dangerous conditions all day long. we begin with meteorologist chuck bell to look at what we'll see and when. chuck? good morning, aaron and eun. good tuesday morning, everyone. you set your alarm early and are ready to go, but now a lot of places will be closed for the day. so technically you can go back to bed, but why would you do that when you can watch our coverage for the next few hours. winter storm warnings go into effect at 7:00 and last until 11:00 this evening. here's storm team 4 radar over the last hour. nothing going on around town, but we have several more dry hours and snow-free hours ahead of us here, but the first leading edge of the snowflakes are moving into western maryland along the mason dixon line. most of the first band is lifting away from the metro over

the next two to four hours, but getting into the 9:00, 10:00, 11:00 timeframe, the snow will arrive here in metro washington. that's where the bulk of the snow is in wesrn washington, it will make a slow but steady move in our general direction, so again, if you don't have everything done just yet, you have the next four to five hours in and around town before you worry about the snow starting to add up. temperatures this morning, we're still above freezing downtown. temperatures mid-30s back out to the west, but nonetheless, we are still watching out for a winter storm arriving today. it will have severe travel impacts. and there's some dangerous cold and low windchills to follow. we'll get into all that and give you the snow forecast coming up in a few minutes. danella, how is traffic? i'm tracking breaking news on the roads. we are not dealing with snow but a fatal accident on the inner loop of the beltway in prince george's county at route 50. you are forced onto eastbound 50. from there you can take mlk, do

a u-turn to get on the westbound 50 and continue on the beltway and continue on the inner loop. here's what it looks like here, they are blocked off, but from 50 you can reconnect going westbound. so keep that in mind as the alternate. it will take you a few extra minutes, but there's no delays, that's the quickest way around. i'm back at 4:31 with an update. 4:29. more than 150 school systems have already closed for today, including d.c. public schools in maryland, prince george's, anne arundel and frederick county schools are closed. howard county schools already had today off. >> in virginia, fairfax, loudoun, and alexandria schools are closed. so are schools in fauquier.

>> king george county, arlington was scheduled to be closed already today. a complete list of schools is at the bottom of the screen and on nbcwashington.com. if you are heading out to work or school this morning, you'll see plenty of plows getting ready to be on the roads for you. crews in maryland, d.c. and virginia worked through the night to pretreat the roads. d.c. has more than 200 trucks ready to work 12-hour shifts spreading salt. vdot will have more than 4,000 pieces of equipment working when the snow starts falling and 350 trucks in montgomery county. metro is also preparing for the winter storm. the agency suggests you travel before the worst of the storm hits and after it leaves. train service is expected to begin at its regular time at 5:00 a.m. the agency says fewer trains could run later in the day depending on ridership and weather conditions. metro buses plan to run their normal schedule. if metro needs to suspend bus service, it will give you