it's here. life-threatening frigid temperatures endangering millions around thenation. mail stopped. trains and planes canceled. schools closed. warnings for dozens of states. we have lifesaving details ahead. >> >> reporter: with wind chills of minus 50, every inch of your body needs to be covered, including your es, which i why i have these goggles. your corneas can actually freeze if they're unprotected in the wind and cold. >> tragedy near times square. a young mot carrying her baby in a strol downstairs to a subway platform falls to her death in a busy station. how could this happen? >> contradiction. the nation's top intelligence chiefs at odds with the president. painting a very different picture of north korea's nukes,

isis and more. >> the star on tv's empire ambushed, men calling him racist and home pho names all while wrapng a rope around his neck. details ahead. >> it was a putt that sent thousands into a frenzy. "ely today" starts right now. >> good frigid wednesday morning. i'm frances rivera. >> and'm phillip mena mostly of the country waking up to dangerously low temperatures, not seen in decades. the arctic blast bsnging brutal cold, snow and ice to the midwest, northeast, and even the deep south. chicago is opening warming centers around the city to provide some protection amtrak announced last night all trains scheduled to and from chicago today are canceled. the u.s. postal service is suspending mail delivery today in minnesota, western wisconsina io western illinois. for more on this, we're joined now by nbc's ron mott in oochicago. ron,morning. >> reporter: hey, phillip, good morning to you. folks here in chicago are waking

up to some histori low col temperatures here. depending on where you live in this metro area, anywhere from 20 to 25 below, with wd chills anywhere from 50 to 55 below d there is a chance this could be the coldest day ever in recorded history in chicago. hundreds of car accidents across several states where millions are bundled up, faced with life-threatening cold. frigid air blowing into chicago, temperatures plummeting to 25 below in spots, wind chills will make it feel like 55 below. >> if you don't needo be outside at this time, don't go outside. >> reporter: rail switches u er fire to keep trains moving. just about all of us are feeling the sting. >> i think you just grin and bear it. >> just trying to stay warm. >> reporter: 85% of will be at or below freezing and it's not just cold. there is snownd ice, too. we've got teams covering it all. >> i'm dylan dryer in minneapolis. we are in the middle of an 80-hour stretch of temperatus below zero with wind chills of minus 50 every inch of your body

needs tbe covered, including your eyes, which is why i have these goggles. your corneas canez actually free if they're unprotected in the wind and cold for an extended period of time. >> reporter: i'm vaughn hillyard in des moines where it's going to feel le 45 below. with wind chills that low, frostbite can set in in about five minutes. >> reporter: i'm kevin tibbles in atlanta where the got off to a soggy start this morning. 1 million people ar rescend on this big city for the game. sters are saying this could be the coldest week of the winter. >> reporter: i'm garrett haake in washington, d.c. with rain and snow hitting the mid-atlantic right nowfoill make r a treacherous rush hour. >> reporter: vulnerable populations are especially at risk. >> we're talking small childr, the elderly and those on medications,de antiessant or couldc medication tha possibly cause an issue. >> reporteio some medicat make it harder to regulate body temperature. the bitter cold also a threat to animals. pets should be brought inside, and dogs fitted with footwear

for outdoor walks. a brutal stretch of cold that's just getting underway. ro mott, nbc news, chicago. >> and our thanks to those correspondents braving the cold out bill, good morning. how bad is it going to get? >> good morning. lm not going to stand in front of a mape this for a long time. i've never stood in front of a map that had temperatures this cold onheit. this is first time in 20, 30 years we've been this cold in the midwest and the northern plains. we're up to 61 million people now under advisories or warnings for the wind ills. and we even just added areas of hartford and providence and areas of massachusetts. so thest wf it right now is about negative 55 in duluth. we're at negative 52 in davenport. the heart of this arctic air mass which was a piece of the polar vortex a few days ago is in canada now through the northern plains ahead for the great lakes,ll tomorrow it head towards areas of the northeast. again, the coldest this morning around chicago and minneapolis and tomorrow morning it's till

very cold, dangerous cold, but not quite as bad. this air mass will slowly begin to moderate just a little bit. negative4 in chicago, negative 39 in minneapolis. we start to see the northeast thursday morning will be the worst of it for you. new york city negative 13, vermont negative 18. the other thing whave to watch closely, that temperature in chicago. the all-time coldest temperature is negative 27. doesn't look like we're going to get there this morning but we have another shot tomorrow morning. a >> oh,man, tough go. ank you, bill. chicago police are investigating a reported attack that left empire store jussie smollettsp alized. smollett told police he was out getting a bite to eat when he was beaten by two men who hurled homophobic slurs at him. poured what is believed to be blea on him, and wrapped a rope around his neck. police are investigating this as a possible hate crime. miguel a.m. gear has more. >> reporter: jussie smollett, a star on the hit television show empire is recovering from multiple injuries after pol he

sa was brutally beaten on this chicago street in a possible hate crime. at 2:00 a.m., investigators say two men approachedmamollett who have recognized the actor yelling racial and homophobic slurs. after the assault police say the attackers threw an unknown chemical on his face and tied a noose around his neck. >> the noose was place the over the friend's neck. >> reporter: smollett took himself to a hospital where he is recovering. >> that man is doingothing but minding his own business and you feel it's necessary to go after him like that. why? >> reporter: in a statement, chicago police say they have not identified any suspects and are looking for surveillance video of the assault. t>> an advocate for the gay community, smollame out to ellen in 2015. >> you cannot allow people t just, just spew hate. >> reporter: outrage on social media, including a post from lee daniels, creator of empire, who shared, then deleted this photo of smollett. >> you didn't deserve, nor

anybody deserves, to have a owose put around your neck, to have bleach thrn on you. we have to love each other regardless of what sexual orientation we are. >> reporter: a hollywood star who is black and gay, and now the victim of a heinous crime. miguel a.m. gear, nbc news. >> now to a heartreaking tragedy in the new york city subway. a young mother is dead after falling down the stairs o a station. as rehema ellis reports, her death is raising troubling questions. >> reporter: a family overwhelmed with grief. struggling to understand how their loved one died in a new york city subway last night. police say 22-year-old mal goodeson plunged down a flight of stairs in a manhattan subway station, holding a stroller with her one-year-old daughter inside. remarkably, the baby was not hurt. the station i here near times square, one of the busiest places in the world, a mecca for tourists. but the city's subways can be difficult to access, especially with a stroller.e

theris an up escalator but not one going down, and there's no elevator.nl in fact, a quarter of new york stations have elevators and and study fou each broke down out 50 times a year. and in a report about u.s. infrastructure, new york's transit got a c-minus grade while the country earned a d-minus, with experts saying despite increasing demand systems are chronically under funded, resulting in aging infrastructure. >> i'm just so shockehi i don't know way to go. >> reporter: as the family mourns, authorities are youngigating whether thi mother suffered a medical emergency or somehow tripped and fell. rehema ellis, nbc news, new york. >> a was my between president trump and his top intel chiefs is now more apparent tevn . in testimony before congress, intelligence leaders publicly contradicted the president's stance onlo majorl threats. from russia to north korea to isis. >> we have won against isis.

we've beaten them and we've beaten them badly. >> the gro has returned to its guerrilla warfare roots while continuing to plot attacks and direct its supporters worldwide. isis is intent on resurging and still commas thousands of fighters in iraq and syria. > the intel chiefs also concluded that north korea will likely never give up its nuclear weaps. just weeks ahead of president trump's second meeting with kim jong-un. they lai out details on russia's campaign that continue dividing the u.s. using socl media. though notably missing from the testimony, any mention of the border wall or security threat that mr. trump cited as a reason for the government shutdown. >> lawmakers are aiming to avert another costly government shutdown this morning. a new congressional panel will meet today to try and strike a deal on border security funding that both pre dent trump and democrats will support. but the clock is ticking. nbc's tracie potts joining us live from d.c. with the very latest on this. tracie, good morning.

both sides more willing to compromise this time. ot only willing, but planning to compromise. this conference committee as it's called is made up of 9 democrats, 8 republicans. these are not the people you see meeting with president trump at the white house or speakingl about the wefore cameras. these are the rank and file members who have skills negotiating and have agreed to sit down and come up wit some compromise that both parties and the president can support. it's going to have to have some semblance of a wall or barrier something to that effect. but is there some sense that they will come up with a solution to keep tovernment open? here's what the senate's top republican is saying. >> i'd be open to anything that we c agree on on a bipartisan basis that wouldake them pretty hard to occur again. i think this is an example of government dysfunction, which is -- should be embarrassing to everyone on a bipartisan basis.

>> reporter: so that conference committee has its m firting today. it is a public meeting. we don't know if the rest will fbe open, or they'll go behind closed doors to start the real negotiations. phillip? >> all right, tracie potts live for us in washington this morning. tracie thank you. long-time trump advisor roger stone is due back in court on friday after pleading not glty toharges stemming from the russia investigation. he is accused of a slew of crimes from lying to congress to witnes tampering. nbc's pete williams has more. >> reporter: roger stone was surprisingly low key at federal court in washington. pushing his way past or demonstratorsnd against him, his lawyer entered a not guilty plea to charges of lying to congres and intimidating a witness. radio interview, stone blasted mueller's case. >> they know they have to take me down in order to take donald trump down.te >> repr: meantime senate democrats qndstioned 's surprise comment from acting attorney general matt whitaker. >> right now the investigation is i thinklose to being

completed. >> puts a cud over the investigation and, again, me yesterday's cnts were exactly the reason why he should have recusedel hims >> reporter: but even if mueller finishes, other investigations go on. >> there i still work to be done. prosecutors in manhattan have work to do, and congress has work to do. >> thanks to pete williams for that report. with bill.ack i it's going to be one of those, where were you days in chicago. >> exactly. peopbe will rem this for the rest of their lives. maybe never seeing it this cold some areas. we're going to see if we can get that record in chicago. right now negative 16. doesn't look like we're going to get there today. maybe still heading down to negative 20 which is extremely rare. in topte 10 itory. tomorrow morning we have another chance of getting towards that negative 27. you notice we're at negative 22 in lacrosse, dropped to negative 26. lowest on the board international falls negative9 the that's not wind chill, that's the temperature.

that's a look at the big weather story of the day. now here's a closer look at your day ahead. the high temperature negative 27, going to be really hard to warm it up today. even negativ c16 incago would be your high temperature for the day. we'll see single digits in many areas of the northeast. everyone wants to know when the warm up isco ng. that january thaw is going to be quick. it's actually going to be in anfebruary. >> wait to hear about t. >> good thing we're almost there. >> yes. >> oscar winning actress gwyneth paltrow is heading to court over an alleged hit and run ski crash in 2016 that left a utah doctor seriously injured. he is suing paltrow after hehe claimsas skiing out of control and knocked him down. the suit says he suffered a brain injury, four broken ribs and othererious injuries. a spokesperson for paltrow said the lawsuit i completely without merit. zander son is seeking damages ie of $3.1 million. he accuses of actress, the ski resort and employees of negligence. none of the employees has commented. we'll be right back. now you can make any morning of the week

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l the news, closing arguments will begin today in the trial of drug king pen el chapo. the defense calledtnne single s to the stand, an fbi agent. and his testimony was over before lunch. nbc's stephanie gosk has the latest. >> reporter: notorious drug trafficker joaquin el chapo guzman built his empire with deception, corruption, and. violence according to federal prosecutors. within days, a jury in brooklyn will decide his fate. the marathon trial lasted more than ten weeks. have there been any really big surprises? >> every day seems to bring a new surprise frankly. mbshell after mbshell. >> reporter: taking the stand, drug runners, assassins, cocaine king pens, a mistress, and eve his personal accountant. many of whom the defense argued could not be trusted. prosecutors say the drugs were smuggled using tunnels, trucks, planes, jalapeno cans and

submarines. they were used allegedly as bribe money for just about every level of official, inclung mexico's former president. a witness said enrique was paid $1 ellion. a cha he denies. the corruption was to keep him in business. he used a mile long tunnel and motorcycle to bust out in 2015 only to be extradited and brought to the u.s. e> this spans years, multiple agencies, multi agents. this was, you know, every facet of u.s. law enforcement, really coming together to try to bng this man to justice in the united states. >> reporter: throughout the trial, guzman's wife, a former beauty queen, has been a regur. if guzman is found guilty, he will spend the rest of his life in a federal. pris that is, unless he figures out a way to escape. stephae gosk, nbc news, new york. >> we've seen itpe h once. still ahead, bill will let us

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a basket brawl breaks out in a high school in long island. two dozen people swarmed the court after an intense game with e rivalount sinai.

they say all hillroke loose. it went on for 30 minutes fefore policeinally arrived. the superintendent said the fight was sta by some young men who were not oamthe one person was arrested for allegedly hitting an officer. >> a very different scenario on the hardwood here. it has to do with the luck of thng irish. durihe game against duke, otre dame's leprechaun mascot attempted that 94 putt acros the entire court. watch, it continues to roll. k we don't bew where it's going. to this point, goes right in. the fighting irish went on to lose the mega. the l kyshot, got everyone tickets to the u.s. senior open practice round >> well done. >> well done. >> best moment of that leprechaun's life. the patriots fan who never gave up hope. the dangerous cold gripping the country, but some relief is in sight. bill karins tells us when when we come back. breath. it was the last song of the night. it felt like my heart was skipping beats.

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a storm team 4 weather alert. wednesday morning has arrived and with it a thin blanket of snow, but it' not the flakes that are causing concern this morning. it's the ice thatlipped in along with it. bitter cold temperatures set in

many roads king slick and potentially dangerous this morning. local school districts are not taking any chances. it is 4:00 a.m., good morning, everybody, i'm aaron gilchrist. >> i'm eun yang. we have all the latest closings and. dela there are plenty of them. the federal government is on a three-ho delay and employees rave the option for unscheduled leave tell le work. as for schools cull pepper, farks uquer. >> as are loudoun fairfax, mineral, hardy and grant in west today.a are closed >> the delays, in maryland, howard, montgomery, prince georges and anne are on a two-hour delay. >> in virginia, alexandria,n, arling falls church, fredericksburg are on two-hour