you know, to be s young, i felt like she really came out r breakingws american paul whelan held by the russians for alleged espionage is in a moscow courtroom this very morning. we'll have the latest. severely raw temres will greet millions today as the dangerous winter weather is to blame foresultiple l lost, including a 12-year-old girl who died in a collapsednow fort. day 32 of the government shutdown, and at airports, lines are growing as unpaid tsa workers are out in ever growing numbers, forcing officials to call in backup workers normally used in natural disasters. look familiar? poliel are asking for your in tracking down a so-calleav tring bandit. he's hit seven banks covering si states in less than a month. plus serena williams just did something to remind us why

she is the greatest tennis player of all time. "early today" starts right now. good tuesday morning. i'm phillip mena. >> i'm frances rivera. here is a story that's drawn international attention.n a michian expected to appear in a russian court today. american businessman paul whelan is facing espionage charges after russianhorities accused him of working as a spy. he'll be appearing before a judge for a bail hearing. whelan flew to moscow inate december and was attending the wedding of a fellow former service member wn he was arrested. nbc's lucy kov nafanov joins ush the latest. will whelan be able to come home anyt qe soon? te the opposite actually. the judge is expected to extend paul whelan's arrest. his family is preparing for a long and drawn out case, at least two or more year they say. they've been raising funds through a gseundme page bec the legal bills are expected to skyrocket. this is not a trial to determine whether paul whelan is guilty or

innocent of the espionage charges. they haven't said exactly what he's accused of doing, but if he's convicted, that could keep him in prison between 10 and 20 years. that's a very long sentence. whelan's appearance in courtees to whether or not he can be released on bail or whether he'll have to remain in the prison where he's spent the past three dweeks. expect a u.s. embassy representative to attend the public portions of this aring. d while four countries, the u.s., ireland, canada, and the united c kingdom allim paul whelan as a citizen, onl diplomatic corps from the u.s. and ireland from seen him so far. do know ireland's consul saw him five days ago. >> lucy, thank you. millions of americans are still reeling from a major winter storm and bone-chilling temperatur a chicago suburb is in mourning after a 12-year-old girl playing in the snow died sunday she was found beneath a

collapsed snow fort with a 9-year-old who survived. firefighters north of new york city rescued an elderly bedridde f woman aftere broke out in her home. authorities say the windy, below-freezing temperatures made it difficult to put out the y flames, but tere able to bring the 80-year-old woman outside safely. hemperatures throughout t northeast were more than 20 degrees below normal monday, and some areas experienced wind gusts of up to 40 miles an hour. it was so coldt out te dunes formed along the coastline of lake erieyl in pennia where waves brought large chunks of ice to shore. park rangers warn that anyone o tries to walk on those dunes may fall through. yet another twist this morning in the russia investigation. the president's personal lawyer, rudy giuliani, is now walking back comments he made about a potential trump tower in moscow. over the weekend, he offered a new time line of the talks, suggesting negotiations were stil taking place well into 2016. nbc'stt tracie pos joins us with ere latest from d.c.

>> reporter: reme frances, the central question here is during the president trump, his family, or his company working with russia, doing any businessith russia? he repeatedly said no. his former attorney, michael cohe said things wrapped up early in january, then admitted he lied to congress, and they were still working on it through ude summer. thengiuliani went further and added this. >> well, it's our understanding that they went on throughout 2016. there weren't a lot,f th but there were conversations. i can't be sure the exact dates, but thebe president can rem having conversations with him about it. >> throughout ?20 >> yeah, probably up to -- coulo be up as far as october, november. our answers cover until the election. >> reporter: well, that's a significant difference, and it's further than anyone would the campaign had gone before. so now giuliani is changing his story. take a look at this stateme

where he says that, my recent statements were hypothetical and not c based onversations i had with the president. my comments did not represent the aual timing or circumstances of any such discussions. we're also here in washington following the shutdown. the latest on that. the offer that president trump made over the weekend will come up for a vote sometime this week, the senate says. but without seven democrats onboard, that offer to exchange protection for a million immigrants in exchange for money for the border wall likely to go nowhere. frances? >> all right. back to square one again. tracie, thank you. speaking of the government shutdown, it is now entering its fifth week and the tsa is having to call in reinforcidents. this h weekend, the agency reported a record number of employees calling out of work. nbc's gabe gutierrez has >>more reporter: this is gabe gu werrez in atlantahere after lines like these last week, the tsa is now calling for backup. around the country, i 10% o

employees called off work on sunday compared to just 3% on the same day last year inmiami, tsa officer andrew nvozz says he's still the job but the government shutdown is making it harder to pay his bills. >> to go into a month like this, it's been a gut punch. >> reporter: the tsa is starting to see staffing issues at these large airports, at several, including atlanta, newa, and new york's laguardia, the agency is callingio in nl deployment officers who typically help during national disaster >> i showed up and another lead showed up, and only three officers showed up. nd on that shift, you're supposed to have at maximum, give or take 16 officers. >> reporter: atsa spokesman says this is uncharted territory, and with increased callouts, citing financial hardship, this could have a compounding affect and force contingency plans at airports nationwide. meanwhile throughout the country and across social media, strong suppor for the federal workers. >> you guys are family to me.

>> theseworkers, man, this is ridiculous. >> reporter: still, despite the callou, the tsa says 93% of passengers waited less than 15 minutes at airport ncurity. here atlanta, the airport is a surge in visitors when the city hosts the super bowl in less than two weeks. phillip? >>gabe,hank you. meantime, we're learning of more people trying to provide some rief to furloughed federal workers. record j bon jovi's restaurant is offering free meals to impacted government employees and their family wednesday from o 2:00 p.m. the workers can also take in a show at the new york metropolitan opera house. the met is offering a pair of free tickets to people with government i.d.s from saturday through the end of the month. and new york city restaurants are also doingpa their . melba's kitchen in harlem is giving out free meals tay from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. federal employees can also the barclays center where there

is a pop-up sight from noon until0 3day. food bank staff will help connect workers with resources in their own neighborhoods. this weekend's nfl playoff games brought high stakes drama that didn't end with the final whistle. in the saints versusam the r game, one play in particular is prompting the nfl to consider a rare rule chan. c's morgan chesky on thatl controversall that wasn't. >> reporter: tie game, not even two minutes left. the saints about to punch their ticket ter the sup bowl. instead -- >> the crowd's gone crazy as there's no flag. >> reporter: a punch in the gut. the rams' dender hitting the saints' receiver illegally. the penalty flag for passen interferce nowhere to be found. thelay noteviewable on instant replay due to nfl rules. >> it's frustrating, you know, just getting off the phone with fithe league of. they blew the call. for a call like that not to be made, ma it's just hard to swallow. >> reporter: even the rams defender admitted the penalty

telling reporters, hell, yeah, that was p.i. nbc sportsiting a source clo to the league says the nfl will explore using instant repl to review pass interference. >> this is thehing that the nfl needs to do asap. >> three quarters of league's owners would have to approve the change. if passed, instant replay could be used on interference just as easily as a fumbler a player running out of bounds. since 1999, only a third of all reviewed p have been overturned. but with a trip to t bowl on the line, the saints wish this call had gotten a second look. morgan esky, nbc news. >> let's see if that changes things. >> it could change history, the history of football. they've got to do something about ite we hhe technology. we should do something about it. sor our next win storm is already on the way. we have blizzard warnings inf areasansas and a little in colorado. winter storm warnings from casper to cheyenne.

let's talk about sl totals. this is over the next 48 hours. a good slowable three t inches from lincoln to des moines, ames, cedar rapids, madison, milwaukee, green b included and the northern michigan. we're not going to get a lot of winter weather in areas of northeast. it's cold, bs most of this actually going to be rain. th's going to warm up significantly by. here's a closer look at your day ead. so the sunshine will return. the winds are down, so it will feel a lot better tay in the northeast than it did yesterday. so after a cold morning, the afternoon should be just fine. you can see where our battleground is between the rain in missouri and the snow and the ice to the north. we'll talk about those highom temperaturesg up. they're going to return to normal in many areas. >> looking forward to that. we like normal. >> we do when it comes to that. thank you, bill. some hot wheels news to tell you abyet. , hot wheels news. the dodge challenger may be going electric. chat sler's new ceo says the beloved muscle car needs to

embrace new technology and is promising a revamp by the mid-2020s. >> lincoln said its 2019 continentals have sold out in less than two days at $110,000 each. the vehicle features suicide doors which open toward each othe and ford's first 2019 gt heritage and first 2020 mustang shelby gt 500 models have sold at auction for a combined $3.6 million. proceeds go to charity. stayed clearer through 48 weeks. tremfya® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tell your doctor if you have an infection or have symptoms such as: fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches or cough. before starting tremfya® tell your doctor if you plan to or have recently received a vaccine. tremfya®. stay clearer. janssen can help you explore cost support options. ...perfectly seasoning our ohillshire farm smoked sausage. so by simply adding the right ingredients...

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that the students involved inal that v confrontation with the native american in washington, d.c. were, quote, treated unfairly, adding that mtheia was wrong about the everyone counter. there's also new video showing the teens in their magats coming face to face with nathan phillips. nbc's ron allen has the latesta he student at the center of it all speaks out. >> reporter: this face to face confrontation igniting charges of racism. kentucky high schooltudents accused of mocking native american elder nathan phillips who claims his drumming was a gesture of peace. >> i was scared. >> reporter: the junior, nick sandmann at the senator of the controversy is speaking out. he and his classmates who face possible expulsion from covington catholic insist this longer video shows what really happened. this is a bunch of future school shooters. >> reporter: the teens say they faced a barrage of verbal abbas from a group calling themselves the black hebrew israelites.

sandmann claims they got permission from chaperones to respond to chants to counter the hateful things being shouted. >> i inteened, andhings just escalated from there. >> reporter: sandmann claims he singled me out for a confrontation, adding, i did smile at one point because i wanted him tt know thai was not going to become angry, intimidated, or beprovoked. a kentucky congressman now backing the students, tweeting, in the face of racist and homosexual slurs, the youngoys refused to reciprocate or disrespect anyone. native american advocates say s the videoaks for itself. >> he got caught doing something that was incredibly racist and disrespectful, and now he's backpedaling. >> reporter: the school andce local dio have apologized to phillips, a vietnam veteran, as theor search f more video and answers continues. ron allen, nbc news. still ahead, celebrating the

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it was freezing outside here inew york. hey, you got to be careful out there. if you start feeling symptoms of confusionr memory ss, you're either suffering from hypotherm hypothermia, or you're rudy

tuliani. so je careful. >> brain freeze will get you. >> it sure will, more ways than seems. in the movie industry, we don't just celebrate the best in .h well, the worst films also get what's called a razzie. this years nominees got a little political. for worst actor, president donald j. trump in death of a nation.in and also height 11-9. some of the other nominees include johnny depp, will ferrell, johnravolta and bruce willis. in the worth supporting actress category, kellyanne conway and melania trp, joined by marcia day harden, kellyn, pres and also jaz sinclair. the worst picture nominees were gotti, the happytimerd s, holmes and watson, robin hood, and winchester. >> i havli a f the president would be upset if he doesn't win. >> even this. >> i'm still surprised to see a watson movie on there because john c.eilly and will ferrell, stepbrothers was so good. >> can't beat tal adegas nights.

the name of pepsi's line of sparkling waters is getting a makeover during the super bowl all thanks to michael buble. >> michael? >> yeah. >> don't do that. >> in this bubbly commercial, buble is on a one-man mission to correct the spelling and pronunciation of the drink. the full 30-second ad will air uper ary 3rd during the bowl. those are the favorite part for a lot of people, to watch the >> you know what? i'm happy for michael buble. he's been through a lot with his son getting cancer. a girl who stole the sho at this year's golden globes by photo bombing celebs on the red carpet is headed to hollywood. remember kelleth cuthbert? she's headed from behind the

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welcome back. we still have windchill warnis in effect. negative 18 right now in northern vermont, but theinds are coming down. it's not quite as bad today in ti, cleveland. it's amazing to say 2 and 3 is not that bad. rming things up. back to normal in the ohio valley today. on the east coast, instead of 20 degrees below, 5 to about 10 below normal d fro. to boston. that's within the realm of normal. a big warm-up on wednesday. we're going t hit 50 degrees in d.c. the back side of this next storm very cold, all the wayown to houston, only a high of 48. later this week, winter makes a big return. chicago's high will only be 5 degrees on frid. it's the next arctic blast heading in. still s aheaena williams takes down the world's number one playet the australian open. you're watchin"early today." right. but, uh, a talking gecko? i'll tell you why because people trust advertising icons.ou

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joo good morning. i'll memo let green. yang.d i'm un grab your coat as you head to work, we'll tell you about the school delays. >> what do they

good tuesday morning, everyone. i'm molette green. aaron gilchrist has the day off. >> and i'm eun yang.

's tuesday, january 22, 2019. before we get to the weather becaust's ridiculously cold, we have several school closings to tell y about. prince george's county schools will open twors h late. in virginia, fauquier, winchest, clark, fairfax, prince william colle are on a two-hour delay. >> as are -- fredericksburg city, staff fort county,al church city, loudoun, and culpeper county schools will also open two hours late today. warren county schools will open one hour late, eun. >> in west virginia, jefferson, berkeley, morgan county schools are all on a two-hour delay. hampshire a mineral county schools are on a three-hour delay. now let'sheck in with our "storm team 4" meteorologist chuck bell ou