new jersey was where he currently lived. >> hoboken, new jersey, the address and the fbi and state police in hoboken police there assisting connecticut authorities in this investigation. originally there was confusion reports that his parents or a parent killed and the belief was that crime scene in new jersey was a result of that but then it was cleared up that, no, the mom was a teacher up in newtown and that is why he went up there and targeted that school. he, the suspect, lived in hoboken, new jersey. the mom worked as a teacher in that school, kindergarten. >> it is -- i don't know. i don't think we have any words for it. jonathan, thank you. let's go to chris hansen now on the phone with us making the way up to the scene. chris? >> hi, lester. how are you? >> good. yeah, chris, you're on the air now. are you at the scene now? >> i'm not at the scene, lester. i pulled over to speak with you for a little bit here. i can tell you -- i don't want to repeat what colleague jonathan said but obviously we now know that the suspect is ryan lanza, 20 years old. teacher at the school. sources

new york and new jersey is a waterfront region. it's bome clear we're in the path of violent new weather realities and we have to adapt. i want to thank the chair and the committee for the opportunity to speak. >> thank you very much, senator schumer. senator menendez? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i particularly want to say that your leadership in this committee and the appropriations committee is going to be so critical to the reconstruction of new jersey and we appreciate not only your leadership in those position but the leadership you've shown alongside those of white house are trying to restore the lives of new jerseyans. so you're critically important to our collective success for the region. i appreciate the comments of the ranking member, senator wicker and nelson, as someone who has stood with the people o mississippi and florida each and every time there's been an issue of devastation and recovery, i'm heartened to hear the remarks that you both made, because it's critically important to the people of new jersey now. we don

so new jersey is in trouble. and you say i need this amount of money. and there's some horse trading. but for the most part they're going to deliver at least 30 billion dollars to the state of new jersey, wouldn't you say? or maybe even a little more. >> i'm hopeful, hopeful. >> jon: at the same time they want to set up exchanges for health insurance. >> right. >> and you don't want to do that. >> right. >> i don't want to do it right now. >> jon: when they're doing it. >> well, no, no, no. because here's the issue, jon. and why i vetoed it. i'm asking a bunch of questions about how much it will cost and everything else. and they won't answer my questions, so i say to them listen, and what i said today is i'm to the going to do this now. the law permits you to make a decision later if you want to. >> i think you have a week. >> no, that is just the first step. but the law permits you to change back to a state exchange. i said if you will tell me by december 14th, if i don't have the information i can't make a sma

their lawsuit to spike sports gambling in new jersey get as crucial green light but new jersey isn't taking it sitting down. details how that state is fighting back and preparing to give vegas a run for its money. even when they say it's not, it's always about money adam: thank you for joining us. we want to look first at the day's market headlines. stocks slid for the 30 straight session. mediocre holiday seas and deadlock over fiscal cliff gave investors little to get excited about. the dow fell 24 points. the so-called fear index or the vix, soaring more than 4%. fiscal cliff concerns pushed the index to the highest level since july. one bright spot though was on the housing fnt. the monthly case-shiller report found october home prices rose 4.3% mpared with a year earlier. the data giving a late sign of recovery in the housing market is actually gaining traction. first our top story, president obama, cutting his vacation short, flying back to washington, d.c. tonight to work on afiscal cliff deal. now, if the stakes weren't high enough, the treasury department upped ante just a s

there is a tunnel that links new york and new jersey. the largest port complex on the east coast and the commuter rail system. about 77 million riders rely on it. he will tell you it is an indispensable part of their lives. -- they will tell you it is an indispensable part of their lives. it is an essential in a region that has $1.4 trillion in economic output. 11% of our nation owes the gdp. of all of the transportation facilities, those suffer the most in the superstorm sandy. we took every step we could to prepare for the storm. despite preparations, is critical link was completely devastated by the historic storm surge. flooding reached over 2 feet in lower manhattan. the storm surge reached and blasted through our passengers stations. add the path tunnels, which are ancient by today's mass transit standards. the path network is dense and closely contained with complex tunnels interlocking underneath the hudson. these tunnels contain rack up on rack of critical and decades- old signals, switches, and communications equipment that was

those of us in new york and new jersey say aha, some of my constituents, i'm sure some of yours, too, senator menendez, say aha, now that it's new york and new jersey, a change in the rules. not fair. we have been there. we have been there for our colleagues. whenever they have had disasters, and praise god we haven't had that many until recently, but we need to. you know what? you will need us. given all the changes in the world, there will be disasters that will strike everywhere else, and we want to be with you. we don't want to see the process so encumbered and so weighted down that that relief cannot come. and the sum total of these amendments would be to do that. i strongly urge my colleagues, hopefully in a bipartisan vote, to reject them. and i yield the floor to my colleague from new jersey. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: mr. president, first of all, i want to thank the distinguished chairlady of the appropriations committee for the work that he and her staff have put together. it's really remarkable considering the

a boat dragged across the new jersey transit tracks. s and bridges were damaged, left littered with debris. the holland tunnel, a major commuter route facility, carries thousands of vehicles every day in new york city-owned it was flooded. the damage to our infrastructure did not just cause structural problems but it shut down a region. for many commuters, getting to work became a much longer, hardy was, and expensive experience. you can see why, from this picture at the hoboken have station. it's hard to believe the water was 6 feet high -- at the hoboken path statino. this is a classical station. we will talk about that. what do we do? do we just repair things? limited transit and access to york, some in new jersey suburb multi-hour commute two and three times the usual costs. there were reports of endless traffic. in case you were not aware, heavy traffic before this is just magnified by the problem we already had. demonstrate transportation system had severe economic impact. the prime example, the largest port on the east coast that

this note in new jersey.was talking about how one of the brothers, ryan lanza is in custody questioned in hoboken, new jersey. in the state of new jersey, on tuesday, december 18, this coming tuesday, the governor's office says they will order flags to be flown at half staff. n recognition and mourning of the victims in newtown, connecticut. and now the context, jon, that you were talking about. there is no way to compare one heart-breaking tragedy to another. we know that. and any other way that we would do it is maybe look at the place in history. hard to concede that something could have happened worse than this scene. from april of 2007. a student killed 32 fellow students and faculty, at virginia polytechnic and state university in blacksburg, virginia. it is still the worst single act of gun violence in u.s. history. an the only school shooting that involved more fatalities than today. for so many of us today was a reminder of one day on april 20, 1999, when the now infamous names kle became part f the

i'm executive director of the port authority of new york and new jersey. mr. chairman, on behalf of the port authority i thank you for your ongoing support of our agency and the people of our region. i also want to thank andrew cuomo of new york and chris christie of new jersey for their strong leadership before, during, and after super storm sandy. for those unfamiliar with their agency, the port authority operates the most important multi modal transportation network in the world. our access includes the busiest airport system in the country, including jfk, laguardia, and newark airports, for interstate bridges, including the george washington bridge, the busiest winter vehicle crossed in the world, the holland tunnels to newark and new jersey, the busiest bus terminal, located in midtown manhattan, the largest port complex on the east coast, and the bicycle commuter rail system. annually, 77 million riders take this -- those who rely it will say it is the indispensable part of their jobs. our path network is 13 miles long, but it serves as a vital network in

to economically rebuild new jersey we also need to rebuild the jersey shore.nd that is a $38 billion tourism economy in our state. and the jersey shore is not just about summer homes. sometimes, you know, a huge misconception. it has been transformed into year-round communities. the next two slides show the importance of some of what senator schumer was talking about. stockton college did a study of the army corps speech engineering programs before and after the storm. what it found was unambiguous. where the army corps was able to complete a beach engineered project, the defense held. the damage to communities behind the project was either negligible or manageable. so here is a before and after photo at surf city which received beach engineering in 2007 as part of the u.s. army corps long beach island shore restoration project. you can see that despite the damage to the din it held. it saved lives. it saved property. it saved money. it made sense. alternatively here is a photo of another part of what beach island that unfortunately did not have similar protec

in new jersey, no question. gov. christie is popular. there a lot of strong candidates considering that run. we will work with all of them to come with the strongest candidate. >> thanks for taking the time. a lot of people have brought up cory booker's name. can any democrat in new jersey in that is not named cory booker? >> i think so. i have spoken with other candidates that will be running in new jersey and i think it will be a very spirited race. new jersey has not experience the kind of economic revival we have seen in some of the states that are led by democratic governors. a year in politics is a long time. two weeks is a long time. we are running against a popular incumbent. that can change. if we have a strong candidate that concern the economy and moving more quickly we think that we can do a better job of leading new jersey with a number of the candidates. >> let me ask you more broadly about the kind of voters you are going after. in a lot if he states it seemed that people vote differently thafor state office and federal. h

jersey. you know, i'm from the area. >> i know. >> jon: born in new york city, raised in new jersey.ou born in newark? >> i'm like you, born in washington, d.c.,, proved to jersey when i was a few months old. >> jon: so lived... >> lived in bergen county, small town called harrington park. >> jon: beautiful harrington park. very nice. and now you are the superhero mayor of newark. i read stories about you. you pull babies out of burning buildings. you have reversed the rotation of the earth. how does this happen to you? do you patrol at night? are you filming an episode of cops? what are you doing? >> i did pa terrell at night a lot, especially when i first got in and there was a lot of change we were trying to make in the police department. i get a lot of attention for things frankly a lot of people in my city do every day. i remember during hurricane sandy i let a lot of my neighbors stay in my house until my power came back on, and i got a lot of attention, but frankly, so many people were doing things like that. >> jon: but you're the mayor. >> i am the mayor. >> jon: so your hou

every single new jersey transit rail line was affected. most service has been restored, but even today the port authority's path terminal at hoboken which brings thousands of riders back and forth between new york and new jersey and the major financial markets of this nation is inoperable, and it still won't be back online for some time, affecting the commutes, the lives and pocketbooks of 30,000 passengers that use that station every weekday, 30,000 passengers that use that station every weekday. this closure has hurt many local small businesses and is forcing some workers to take a 6:30 a.m. bus every morning instead of an 8:00 a.m. train, and others are taking ferries, far more costly than their path ride meaning their personal budgets are bit dramatically each and every week that they are going to work. superstorm sandy caused an estimated $7 billion in damage, $7 billion, to transit systems across the religion, disrupting not only people's commutes but taking time from them to spend with their families and money out of their pockets. t

the wires, jonathan, show that ryan lanza's father was killed in his home in new jersey. ddition to the news from the top of the hour, his per, we know, the per of the shooter was found dead in connecticut. we are putting together a little bit of what happened perhaps early this morning but the timeline as we know we are still discovering. what else do we know of the shooter? >>jonathan: we are told he was 24. ryan lanza was his name. there was some initial confusion with the shooter being identified as a 20-year-old. we do know according to officials that ryan lanza has a 20-year-old brother. that may have been where some of the confusion came from. also, interesting to note as we note that, there were reports that police were questioning a second person in detection with the shootings that they allegedly found in the woods behind the school. all of this, obviously, in its early stages. police are confirming just now the shooter died inside the school. they have also confirmed that both the mother and father of ryan lanza have been found dead in their homes. the father in

the father's body was found in new jersey. there are separate reports up to four weapons possibly involved including a rifle and two automatic weapons. the president visibly shaken by today's attacks. >> the majority of those who died today were children. beautiful little kids between the ages of five and 10 years old. they had their entire lives ahead of them, birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own. among the following were also teachers and men and women who devoted their lives to help our children fulfill their dreams. >>neil: now the latest from newtown, connecticut. rick? rick: the governor of connecticut was here a short time ago and called this a tragedy of unspeakable terms that you can never be fully prepared for. remember, this happened over six hours ago. there is a lot of evidence still being processed. the crime scene is still very active. other scenes are now investigated, including the home of shooter's movie where an adult body was found and other residents in new jersey with conflicting reports of

let's go to tom in new jersey. tom. >> caller: big jim, how are you tonight? >> couldn't be better, thank you. what about you? >> caller: great. a big montclair state university boo-yah to you. >> how about the high school championship go to the championship tomorrow. coach liberato at the meadowlands 4:00 be there, boo-yah. >> caller: hovnanian, long? >> no. not going to buy hovnanian. not when kohl brothers htoll br unbelievable quarter and can't lift. rob in new jersey. >> caller: hi, jim. a sexy boo-yah to you from new york city. i love you and everything that you do on your show, and i subscribe to everything you have. >> yes! thank you! >> caller: you're welcome. a few months ago you mentioned merrimack pharmaceutical, mrck, as a good biotech stock. i'm in at age 50. what is your opinion -- >> i think you have to buy more. i feel very good about that.

with damage like this stretching for miles, the governor says new jersey will need $37 billion to repair the damage. after meetings at the white house, christie visited members of congress. new york's governor did the same earlier this week. the president is committed to helping. >> he knows our work is not done anymore than the work in the states is done. >> reporter: president obama is expected to ask congress for $50 billion in storm relief. new york, new jersey, and connecticut say they need $83 billion. the deans say they'd be grateful for a straight answer. >> what should the federal government do? >> cut through the red tape and get people in line with what they're doing. >> reporter: communities like this know they may have to fight for every dollar. in seaside heights, new jersey for wjz eyewitness news. >> for now, residents in seaside heights can only visit in the daylight. >>> the dutchess is back in the palace. she left the hospital today. the future queen spent lee days being treated for severe morning sickness. kate smiled as she entered a car that whisked her to kensingto

in new jersey it is no question that governor christie is popular. there are a lot of candidates, strong candidates in nrge and we're going to work with all of them to come out to beat chris christie. >> governor, thank you for taming the time. a lot of people have brought up cory booker's name. can any democrat in nrge win not named cory booker? >> i think so. i have talked to cory and i have spoken to other candidates that will be running and i think it is going be a spirited race. let's remember, that jersey is a democratic state. as you know, new jersey has not experienced the revival that we've seen in some of the states that are led by democratic governors. i would argue that a year in politics is a long time, no question we're running against someone who is popular. that can change. if we have a strong candidate that will continue to turn the economy in new jersey and move it more quickly, we think that we can do a better job in leading new jersey with a number of candidates that might run. >> let me ask you more broad liquor about the kind of

a boat dragged across the new jersey transit tracks. roads and bridges were damaged, left littered with debris. the holland tunnel, a major commuter route facility, carries thousands of vehicles every day in new york city-owned it was flooded. the damage to our infrastructure did not just cause structural problems but it shut down a region. for many commuters, getting to work became a much longer, hardy was, and expensive experience. you can see why, from this picture at the hoboken path station. it's hard to believe the water was 6 feet high. this is a classical station. we will talk about that. what do we do? do we just repair things? limited transit and access to york, some in new jersey suburb multi-hour commute two and three times the usual costs. there were reports of endless traffic. in case you were not aware, heavy traffic before this is just magnified by the problem we already had. demonstrate transportation system had severe economic impact. the prime example, the largest port on the east coast that supports more than 550,000

we had heard earlier reports that a house in new jersey was being searched by law enforcement. this is an official speaking on anonymity and the suspect is dead from the gunshot wound. we heard that the gunman is dead but did not know how that death happened whether it was self-inflicted or the police actually shot him. again this official is speaking of the condition of anonymity because the source is not authorized to speak on the record about this developing criminal investigation. police obviously being very cautious about this and holding the cards close to the vest and not releasing official death told at this point as they are waiting for confirmation and letting family know exactly the fate of their loved ones. we do know some wounded taken to nearby hospitals, including danbury, connecticut. we are still waiting for the president to speak to give an update and we will hear from the governor of connecticut for the latest sig. the president is expected to make a statement at the white house briefing room. you can see the live reporters waiting to speak to him right now a

original suspect, ryan lanza, has been in custody for much of the derek being questioned in hoboken, new jersey. officials believe ryan lanza is cooperating and not believed to have been involved in the rampage. fox news has confirmed ryan lanza has a facebook page. it is active. we're not showing it here. but it lists him from newtown, connecticut, and living in hoboken. it caught our attention today when he or someone else on his behalf began leaving messages on-line via twitter about ryan lanza not being the shooter and saying his facebook page showed a man who had not done the horrible thing in connecticut. at the same time, a source telling me ryan was part of a family that lived a very quiet existence. the dad often visited ryan lanza when he was enrolled at quinn pee yack university and the two appeared to have a good relationship. but that ryan talked so little about his family that even those people who knew him for years knew very few details about them. not one picture of his family inside his college room. no mention of his brother, adam. it seemed as though ryan's parents were divo

you came to new jersey from santo domingo when you were six. your parents come with you? >> yes. father was already here. my father had left in '69, a year after i was born, working in new york city. and then in '74, five years later, the rest of the family, me and my siblings and my mother joined him. we all moved to new jersey. >> and how did they support you? what were they doing? >> my father was a forklift operator. my mom had five kids, so you can imagine that was her full-time job and her hobby. and that was how it all began. my dad driving forklift up in elizabeth, new jersey. and us going to school. and my mom sort of trying to make it all happen in the house. >> what did they want you to do? >> oh my god, i mean, immigrant, conservative family, and a kid who they began to dawn that this kid was kind of bookish and kind of smart. my mom was, like, "hey, i want you to be a doctor. and if things go really bad, be an engineer. and if things go super bad, be a lawyer." but nothing beyond that. >> and your father? >> my dad was super conservative. my dad was to the rifle rang

another might be in new jersey. we are also told that the shooter has been identified as a 20-year-old male. the police would not get into the numbers. but we have to remember that we are roughly four hours since this mass shooting occurred. there's a lot that is still not put together yet. very early in the investigation. as we said earlier, crime scene is very difficult at this point for them to process. there are so many victims. the police would not confirm the number, but we have been told by multiple sources, including federal agents, that there may be as many as 27 people dead. that includes possibly 18 children. eight adults and the shooter, as well as the principal of the sandy hook ohman preschool. megyn: thank you, rick. we will get back to you momentarily. one of the worst shootings in u.s. history. thirty-two people dead at virginia tech, now we are being told that the number is 26 victims plus the shooter, and makes 27. at the sandy hook elementary school. in connection with this case. preliminary numb

we project half of the damage on primary homes in new jersey were occupied by low and moderate income households. our research staff has identified 500 neighborhoods in new york, new jersey and connecticut where 20% of homes were damaged. more than 175 of these neighborhoods are in new jersey. head is assisting affected state and local governments. immediately following the storm we hope -- posted calls with these to help understand how existing resources may be used for response for recovery efforts. a series of waivers make it easier to use these for emerging needs. force and the recovery, disaster recovery. this will provide the necessary resources to plan and implement recovery in the region while having impacted communities to mitigate future risk of disaster or to prevent losses from reoccurring. mitigation is not just sensible but cost effective. studies have found mitigation efforts offer $41 return on investment by preventing future damage. for example in hope, indiana, a 2008 disaster recovery allocation of $40 million allows for the rebuilding of stronger, safer water, wast

i lived in new jersey my whole life. i have never seen the type of devastation that exists in the state. the pictures some of my colleagues have shown the to not do justice. there are thousands of people who do not have a home to go back to. when people talk about the jersey shore, because of some of these shows, they think of a certain thing. these are people's homes. their lifetime homes, year- round communities, that do not have a home to go back to. i am talking about a $35 billion tourism industry that is devastated. i am talking about the mega port of the east coast that suffered huge damages, national security, because we closed the only port that was a military port and now we use the commercial port 1 we need to in the case of emergencies. i could go on and on. talk, told her, i want to get a sense from you as to the commitment of this administration and the federal government to help in new jersey, and certainly new york, and the region, recover. when we had hurricane katrina on the gulf coast in mississippi an

the aftermath. >> reporter: it was a storm the likes of which the new jersey shore had never seen. roads destroyed, property lost, much of the jersey boardwalk washed away, adding up to billions of dollars in losses. karl new is a claims adjuster for insurer american modern, accessing damage of homes, cars and boats. what's the difference between this and what you'd see in the south? >> these houses are a lot bigger. in the south, they're square, one to two stories. south carolina builds for hurricanes. these weren't built for hurricanes. >> reporter: john marchetti lives one block from the beach. >> the car was completely submerged in the garage. it was lifted up and twisted like a washing machine effect. >> reporter: to date, insurers have processed 60,000 vehicle claims in new jersey alone. the insurance information institute estimates insured losses from sandy will likely run around $19 billion, making it the third costliest natural disaster behind katrina and andrew. >> the cost of living is higher, houses are more expensive, so that's going to inflate our costs all the way aro

it falls short of the combined $82 billion sought for rebuilding efforts in new york, new jersey, and connecticut. a new federal study has found that the practice known as fracking can cause earthquakes. oil and gas operations caused the majority if not all earthquakes in certain areas of new mexico and colorado between 2001 and 2011. the report's co-author called fracking is as high risk that we need to be considering. washington state put into effect two news laws today with major national significance. as of midnight, possession of up to 1 ounce of marijuana is now legal in washington state, following the approval of a state ballot initiative last month. in enacting the measure, washington is the first state to decriminalize recreational marijuana use and the first to do so anywhere by popular vote. meanwhile, same-sex marriage is also now legal in washington as of midnight after also having been approved by voters on election day one month ago. those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting

new jersey governor chris christie will be in the studio. here it is, your moment of zen. >> his music has been one, long brilliant improvisation on the wonderful rhythms of life. captioning sponsored by comedy central captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org . >> stephen: tonight, a new threat from north korea. how will mach eye and klinger hand this will one? (laughter) then, can homosexuality be cured? and what will that mean for bravo's ratings? (laughter) plus, my guest, author malcolm gladwell wrote the forward the new yorker's "big book of dogs." i wonder if "dog fancy" has a "big book of gladwells." (laughter) it's now legal to carry a concealed weapon in all 50 states. so if you are in one of them, be careful. (laughter) this is "the colbert report" (cheers and applause) (cheers and applause) >> stephen: welcome, ladies and gentlemen! (audience chanting "stephen") (cheers and applause) >> stephen: thank you, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the "report," folks, thank you for joining us. it's great to be me. nation, it

governor brown is an excellent health if you recall this year, challenging new jersey governor christie to a fitness test. skpf course that never happened but you can be assured he's an excellent health z by the way, the governor's dogs that are brown just tweeted he will take good care of them him.