. good thursday morning. coming up on "early today" winters fury. 11 deaths are blamed on the current deep freeze hitting the south. temperatures improve today but another storm is right around the corner. >> justin surrenders, first egging and dui and now he turns himself into toronto police for an assault case. happy meal heroin? a drug dealer busted for putting heroin in happy meals at a mcdonald's drive-thru. >> hilary hits a popularity high note and madonna and miley go

unplugged. it's thursday january 30th. "early today" starts right now. hello everybody. thanks for joining us. i'm betly nguyen. parts of the south are reeling from a paralyzing winter storm. the worst was in atlanta. highways transformed into parking lots. people were stranded for hours or forced to spend the night in their cars. some kids had to sleep in their schools because the roads were just too dangerous. now critics say the state just wasn't ready. >> reporter: wednesday evening traffic on the highways in the atlanta area. 24 hours in a world of difference from the miles and miles of cars and trucks going nowhere stuck after snow and ice paralyzed the 9th largest metro area. >> when it's going to be wet and cold get the salt trucks on the

road around the clock. >> reporter: frustration mounted as they tried to dig out from the harsh winter storms. >> the eyes of the nation are on the state. so i'm not going to get into that blame game. >> what i was referring to was that the national weather service continually had their modeling showing that the city of atlanta would not be the primary area where the storm would hit. >> reporter: thousands of school children were reunited with their parents after being forced to shelter in place overnight. >> it's tough but as long as the kids are safe i'm fine. >> repor the story was the same for many parts of the deep south. drivers from baton rouge to birmingham stuck for hours along ice covered roads. but for many the rare southern snowstorm wasn't all bad. for college students in north carolina, it was a break from the books. nbc news. take a look at this dash cam video from texas. this pick up truck spun out of

control and hit an embankment. no word on the driver's condition but it gives you an idea of how bad and icy the roads are. well the legal troubles are piling up for pop star justin bieber. his fate in the u.s. now in the hands of the white house. but first a new assault charge in toronto for the 19-year-old. bieber turned himself into police yesterday amid an army of security, fans and reporters. he was released and is scheduled to appear in court march 10th. police say bieber was part of a group a driver picked up outside a night club. a man struck the drooir on the back of the head several times but fled the scene before police arrived. bieber's lawyer say he is innocent. the singer meanwhile pleaded not guilty to other charges he's facing in miami. his lawyer filed the paperwork yesterday. he's accused of dui, resisting arrest and driving with an expired license. new police reports reveal

bieber's alcohol breath test was under the limit. >> then they're trying to deport him and revoke his green card. well, now the oval office must respond because more than 100,000 people signed it. in fact, it has almost 177,000 signatures. new overnight the state of his executed a convicted murderer. the 56-year-old was put to death by lethal injection before midnight. he was convicted in the 1991 killing of a local juror. last minute attempts to halt the execution failed. the supreme court stopped the precedings tuesday night but later reversed without explanation. it's the state's third execution in as many months. a mcdonald's worker in pittsburgh is facing charges of selling heroin in happy meals at a drive-thru window. he was arrested wednesday by

undercover police. she sold the drug to customers who drove up using the code words i'd like to order a toy. it costs $82. two for the meal and 80 for the heroin. police found 10 bags of heroin and recovered another 50 bags from the suspect. she denies the charges. now what's become the most memorable part of the state of the union. new york congressman michael grim caught on camera physically threatening a reporter. he said he would throw him off the balcony and break him in half all because of a question about an investigation into his campaign finances. the congressman now called the reporter to apologize and offered to meet him for lunch and took a softer tone with kelly o'donnell. >> i'm a human being and sometimes your emotions get the better of you. but it shouldn't happen.

it shouldn't lose your cool. when you're wrong, you have to admit it and it shouldn't happen. >> the watchdog group citizens for responsibility and ethics is calling for a federal investigation into the incident. no word yet on that lunch date. we'll keep you posted. now to bill karins on the latest with the deep freeze in the south. >> the south needs to be the south. they need to warm up and get back to normal. it's the transition day today. we still have above freezing in many of the areas that saw the snow and ice 36 hours ago. the rain and snow sending. a little bit of rain left in florida but there's no more of any of that on the weather map. so that's good. as far as what we're going to deal with during the morning hours, atlanta still at 17. still ice and snow on the roads. we also had a lot of problems in birmingham. there are a lot of bad roads and people stranded in the birmingham area too. those locations will go above freezing today. 42 in birmingham. 38 in atlanta. even warmer tomorrow and then over the weekend it's toasty.

we'll hopefully clear the roads out by about midday today. look at the 24 hour temperature change map. it's 30 degrees warmer in minneapolis than it was this time yesterday. we'll be up there close to freezing today in areas of wisconsin for the first time in weeks. a little warmer also there in the mid-atlantic. that's your national forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. sunshine today and 39 degrees in charlotte. it will actually feel warm compared to the last couple of days and even new york city will be warm compared to the last couple. we'll watch rain and snow showers developing in areas of the central plains tonight. >> got some changes in the super bowl forecast. >> good changes? bad changes? >> you have to wait my friend. >> you're going to make us wait for it. hilary hits a high note. toronto's mayor rob ford on the wrong side of the law again and plus returning passengers aboard the sick cruise ship describe their ordeal. >> it was violent for about 24

hours. the first 12 or 14 hours of it were really, really bad. >> some people were terrible. we were really scared there would be some kind of activity. >> you're watching early today. ♪ [ girl ] roses are red. violets are blue. splenda® is sweet. and so are you. [ female announcer ] just about anywhere you use sugar, you can use splenda® no calorie sweetener. ♪ splenda® lets you experience the joy of sugar

without all the calories. it's a very good reason to enjoy something sweet with the ones you love. think sugar, say splenda™ we need a new recipe. let us consult the scroll of infinite deliciousness. perfect. [ wisest kid ] campbell's has the recipes kids love. so good! [ wisest kid ] at campbellskitchen.com. [ gong ] m'm! m'm! good! i cthis year aloneore places offi hit new york...ist.m. and texas! see, hotwire checks the competition's rates every day... so they can guarantee their low hotel prices. ♪ h-o-t-w-i-r-e ♪ hotwire.com we've crafted our power bowls to help you power your day. start with protein-packed egg whites and savory roasted turkey for breakfast. or power up your lunch with antibiotic-free chicken and our flavorful cilantro jalapeno hummus. power bowls from panera bread - power up today. ♪

[ male announcer ] bob's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack, be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. welcome back, everybody. new details have come to light about the man that killed two people and then himself in a maryland mall. 19-year-old darion aguilar wrote in a journal he was ready to die adding that he had a general hatred toward others and suffered from mental health issues. >> hilary clinton has a wide lead over other democrats heading into the 2016 presidential primaries. 73% of people said they would vote for her over joe biden. the republican race on the other hand is far less unsided with paul ryan holding a slight lejeb bush and chris

christie. >> scarlet joe hansen is signing over and the beverage company has come under fire for maintaining a factory in the west bank. something that is illegal. >> the cruise ship that had people sick on board returned to port wednesday. some people on the ship handled the situation better than others. >> some people were terrible. i mean, we were really scared that there would be some kind of righteous activity but the cruise line handled it so well. they had sessions where they listened to people's complaints. the captain listened to people threaten his life. and he was so good about it. >> and toronto's crack smoking mayor, you remember him, rob ford, he is sued for allegedly conspiring to have his sister's ex-boyfriend beaten up while in

prison. the plaintiff says ford ordered a hit on him so he would keep quite about the mayor's drug and alcohol abuse. we all know peanut allergies can be deadly but now there is a potential break through. scientists in england gave 85 children small doses of peanut flour each day. most kids built up a tolerance. after six months they could eat the equivalent of five peanuts per day. researchers warn the therapy is in the early stages and they say do not try this at home. early today health is brought to you by vagisil, the experts in intimate health. >> time to get down to business, stocks tumbled on news that the federal reserve will scale back by $10 million to $65 million. the internet giant benefitted from valuable patents but google is selling motorola for under $3

billion. >> a florida couple that came upon a box of personnel files loosely connected to home depot, they tried to extort 10 grand from the hardware giant. well local police and secret service busted them when they tried to collect on the cash. >> car insurance rates can vary by as much as 50% from month to month. according to insurance rate.com, the cheapest month of the year to buy car insurance is december and the most expensive is march. and if you can wait until after super bowl sunday to buy that flat screen tv, you may be rewarded with a great bargain. fat wallet.com reports that prices will drop big time in february which is right on time for march madness. >> and speaking of, sports is next ahead including the excitement that is building as the great white way is transformed into super bowl boulevard. and hear how gold medallist lindsey vonn made one young

super fan's day. that's next. we use this board to compare car insurance rates side by side, so you get the same coverage, often for less. [ rattling ] that's one smart board. what else does it do -- reverse gravity? [ chuckles ] split atoms? [ whoooosh! ] hey, how is that atom-splitting thing going? [ rattling ] [ electronic whistling ] oh! [ zap! ] a smarter way to shop around. now, that's progressive. call or click today. awwww...here we go. ♪ one berry, two berry, mixed berry, blueberry ♪ ♪ peanut butter, nothing better, gimmie jam to make it redder ♪ ♪ cream cheese, cherry please, score some honey from the bees ♪ ♪ stack it up, it's what you do, mix it up, it's up to you ♪ [ female announcer ] try one of our fun recipes on facebook... and eggo your way!

[ male announcer ] campbell's homestyle soup with farm grown veggies. just like yours. huh. [ male announcer ] and roasted white meat chicken. just like yours. [ male announcer ] you'll think it's homemade. i love this show. [ male announcer ] try campbell's homestyle soup. [ male announcer ] you'll think it's homemade. all the goodness of milk,how. all the deliciousness of hershey's syrup.

this morning on today, mat sits down with one of disco's biggest stars, barry gibbs. he'll discuss the legacy of the popular 70s group and his upcoming solo tour. >> and one of the biggest fans of all time, richard, of course? >> stay alive, right? >> absolutely. you're speechless about that,

aren't you? >> i wasn't. i was trying to think which is my favorite song. >> you can tell by the way you -- >> betty, good thursday to you. let's talk the super bowl. the countdown is on. three days to go. super bowl boulevard in times square. the radio city rockets unveiled the roman numerals. what are they for the 48th super bowl? xlviii. third grade math, my friend. but they were unveiling them there on super bowl boulevard. who had it worse in practice? the broncos rumbling by the snow drifts in 9 degrees wind chill, rubber face weather for seattle. they were indoors at a facility with the doors open trying to keep it cool there but it's still 25 degrees warmer there and there was no wind chill. still not warm enough for marshawn lynch, though. he didn't go to practice. he gets wednesday as a day of

rest and only spoke to reporters for seven minutes. one more than yesterday. >> what's his deal? i don't get it? >> he gets a day of rest. that's when teammate michael robinson became his spokes person, kind of. >> yeah, i'm fixing to slide up in this thing, right? just to break it a little bit. you can direct your questions to me, check. >> how does marshawn feel about skittles? >> he loves it before the game, boss. >> i wonder if he gets 10%? >> the two best players in the nba face-off. lebron james with two championship rings and kevin durant with 12 straight 30 point games. take to the second, miami leads by 5. d durant grabs the loose ball and gets two points. then james, monster hustle for the shot adding to his 32 points. the thunder get their 9th straight win, 112-95.

76ers at celtics, celtics lead by one. turner composed, gets the buzzer beater. both with losing records. the 76ers get the confidence builder 95-94. there is the shot. all right. undefeated arizona needs no confidence until maybe last night. stanford almost beating the number one team. 50 seconds left. game tied. arizona gets a three-pointer. they take the lead and later the win. 60-57. the southeast snowstorm even held the braves freddie freeman in an 11 hour traffic jam. still smiling. luckily clipper jones came to the rescue here using an atv. >> that's one way to do it. >> in the cold there to save freeman. team work my friend. >> this is lindsey vonn calling. >> oh my gosh, really? >> yeah. how are you? >> oh my god. oh my god. oh my god. >> a pleasant surprise, indeed. olympic skier lindsey vonn

personally called one of her biggest fans while she visited red bull headquaters and you can see the 11-year-old's reaction, quite priceless. >> it's really you? this is not you. it was. thank you, just ahead, madonna hooks up with miley and oscar winner jennifer lawrence's messy dorito fingers. we'll explain, next. of a bb cream equal? introducing the newest trend in beauty. olay total effects cc cre. c for color. c for correction. [ female announcer ] fight 7 signs of aging with the flawlessly beautiful complexion instantly. we call it a phenomenon. you'll call it possibly the most exciting skincare since. olay. cc for yourself. see what the beauty pros are saying at olaycccream.com. see what the beauty pros are saying fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that parker. well, did you know auctioneers

make bad grocery store clerks? that'll be $23.50. now .75, 23.75, hold 'em. hey now do i hear 23.75? 24! hey 24 dollar, 24 and a quarter, quarter, now half, 24 and a half and .75! 25! now a quarter, hey 26 and a quarter, do you wanna pay now, you wanna do it, 25 and a quarter - sold to the man in the khaki jacket! geico. fifteen minutes could save you... well, you know. still running in the morning? yeah. getting your vegetables every day? when i can. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. >> very.

jennifer lawrence almost got on the bad side of her costume designer on american hustle. while on set for the film she would eat doritos in costume and get that dust all over. luckily for the costume designer he had three back ups. >> what kind of doritos? >> cheesy. the best kind. check out christy brinkley on the cover of people magazine. she's still got it at 60. well, on the howard stern show, eric stonestreet admitted to using dating and hook up app tender. yeah he said he met a few women using the app and actually missed out on a recent date because he had to get up early for wednesday's interview with stern. >> and kristen bell and dax sheppard had enough with the paparazzi. they were urging followers to boycott magazines that print photos of celebrity kids claiming children shouldn't be stalked. i'm betty nguyen. this is "early today."