al roker is here, and peter alexander is in hard-hit north carolina, and mark potter will start us off in atlanta tonight, mark, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian, the word here in atlanta, the weather is just miserable, and expected to get even worse tonight and tomorrow. already some 5500 flights have either been delayed or cancelled. the city of atlanta learned a hard lesson from the last big storm, when thousands of motorists were stranded on area roads, including i-85. this is that same stretch of highway today as people now heed official warnings and stay off the roads. still, there was no escaping the ice, the weather problems began today shortly before dawn when freezing rain became slush and ice, causing accidents. as trees grew heavy with ice, they began to fall. this one fell into a house where an 88-year-old woman was sleeping in this bed when the ceiling collapsed. her grandson said while injured she is lucky to be alive. >> and she was just covered with insulation and sheet rock. >> reporter: power crews spent all day repairing downed lines as more than 200,0

mark potter, nbc news, miami. >>> big changes could be coming to the u.s. army. defense secretary chuck hagel is recommending billions of dollars in annual budget cuts that would limit pay raises and increase health care premiums. under the plan, the army would shrink to the smallest force since the world war ii build-up. likely to face fierce opposition on capitol hill. >>> the nation's governors at the white house again today. they had dinner with president obama sunday night as part of their winter conference. and today the president will urge them to team up for what he calls a year of action. the message, if congress won't act, then the white house will work with the states directly to get things done. >>> some bad news this morning

>> mark potter tonight. >>> a spoiler alert as we take turn to the second to last day of competitionere at the sochi olympics. we'll talk about results that have been widely reported. that includes a disappointing day for team usa. our chris jansing joins me now with details. hi, chris. >> well, today ends what has been a great run for team usa at these games.

nbc's mark potter has more. >> reporter: these are the first images of mexico's top crime kingpin in 13 years, since his dramatic escape from this maximum security prison by hiding in a laundry cart. since then, guzman has become a known drug trafficker, supplying most of the u.s.'s drug supply, reportedly a billionaire, and a violent player in mexico's drug war. >> 80,000 murdered and he was responsible for a good bit of it. >> reporter: authorities say he became restless in his hideout and sought a more comfortable life in the cities. early last week, authorities raided several of guzman's safe houses in mexico where they just missed him after he escaped while climbing through a secret door underneath his tub, into a tunnel that poured into the city's drainage system. the u.s. and the marshal services had been tracking his movements by developing informants and wiretapping cell phones. but after the safe house raids, only one ofhe wire taps worked, but it was enough to get him. early saturday morning the team of marines converged on this town, and on the fourth floor of this hotel

but first, to mark potter in atlanta to start us off. hey, mark, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. the bad weather is now expected to hit atlanta sometime early tomorrow morning. the only good news, is that allows officials and residents just a little more time to prepare. late this afternoon, trucks loaded with salt and gravel hit the roads to get ahead of the upcoming storm. part of a massive effort to avoid what happened two weeks ago when 2.6 inches of snow brought this city to a grinding halt. atlanta is on high alert and is being warned the storm hitting early tomorrow morning and throughout the day could be long remembered. >> travel is going to be impossible. and this is going to be a catastrophic event for the areas in purple. >> reporter: in a city known for its hilly neighborhoods and many trees, ice is the major threat. >> this is one of mother nature's worst kinds of storms that can be inflicted on the south. >> reporter: when ice accumulates, it can topple trees on to power lines, causing major outages. repair

we get the story tonight from nbc's mark potter. >> reporter: the incident, during a traffic jam on this miami highway was broadcast live on local radio. >> we have several reports of a woman exiting her vehicle, screaming for help. >> reporter: that woman is pam rauseo, whose 5-month-old nephew, sebastian de la cruz had just stopped breathing. out of the car, she dropped to the ground to help the child. >> and i ad administered cpr, which i was scared to do, because it was seven years since i learned how to do it. >> reporter: behind her, in his car, was miami harold photojournalist al diaz, who ran to find help. >> i turned towards traffic trying to flag somebody down. and lucila stopped. >> reporter: lucila godoy rushed to help and comfort rauseo, and to dial 911. >> yeah, i was like please, don't die on me, because i don't know what i'm going to do. >> reporter: meanwhile, diaz found this police officer in his car. >> when the child started breathing, the officer took him from me. and that's when i broke down crying out of relief. >> reporter: two officers from miami-dade fire rescue

>> mark potter tonight. >>> a spoiler alert as we take turn to the second to last day of competitionere at the sochi olympics. we'll talk about results that have been widely reported. that includes a disappointing day for team usa. our chris jansing joins me now with details. hi, chris. >> well, today ends what has been a great run for team usa at these games. it was their first day without a medal, including the men's hockey team which lost the bronze medal game to finland. but that doesn't mean there was not some celebrating going on. is it a boy band or olympians? team usa's 5,000 meter short relay silver medalists have some moves off the ice. >> couldn't be more happy. to be with this group of guys. >> reporter: after 11 days with no medals for short track they ended the drought last night. >> the u.s. will capture a medal. >> reporter: and said watch out next time. >> we're going to have to become more extreme. we'll have to do black flips every straightaway. >> skate with samurai swords. >> reporter: another american-born athlete added a second gold in alpine snowboarding. but

we get our report tonight from nbc's mark potter in atlanta. >> reporter: this is what georgia state and city officials never hope to see again, a repeat of the weather disaster two weeks ago in which just 2.5 inches of snow paralyzed metro atlanta, clogging miles of highway, forcing drivers to abandon their cars, and children to sleep overnight in their schools because their parents couldn't come get them. today the governor, who apologized for not being prepared last time, said this time will be much different. >> we're not looking back. we're looking forward. the next three days are going to be challenging days for the state and for local government and for private entities. >> reporter: the governor has expanded the state of emergency to include 45 counties, and trucks are loading up with a mix of salt, sand, and gravel to put on the roads. >> we'll have 125 separate pieces of snow equipment, including snowplows. >> reporter: officials are also urging truckers to avoid clogging highways in the atlanta area when the storm hits, and say they are opening shelters. atlanta area schoo

nbc's mark potter has our report. >> reporter: these are the first public images of mexico's top crime kingpin in 13 years since his dramatic escape from this maximum security prison by hiding in a laundry cart. since then joaquin "chapo" guzman has become known as the world's most powerful trafficker, supplying most of the u.s.'s illicit drug supply. reportedly a billionaire and a violent player in mexico's drug war. >> 80,000 murdered and he was responsible for a good bit of it. >> reporter: a year ago, authorities say, guzman became restless in his sinaloa mountain hideout and sought a more comfortable life in the cities. >> once you become more complacent, you become more vulnerable. >> reporter: early last week, authorities raided several of guzman's safe houses in mexico where they just missed him where he escaped by climbing through a secret door beneath his bathtub into a tunnel that poured into the drainage city. agents had been tracking his movements by tapping phones. >> they had six wiretaps going. >> reporter: but after the safe house raids, only one wiretap cell phone sti

mark potter, nbc news, miami. >>> we have a follow-up tonight on a situation in syria where u.n. officials and aid workers came under fire yesterday, as they started the plan to evacuate people in the besieged city of homs. this was supposed to be a third day of a cease-fire, but even as 600 people were able to get out today they did so darting to waiting u.n. vehicles that were carrying white flags in between explosions and audible small arms fire. it's estimated there are still a thousand more refugees inside the old portion of the city, which has largely been reduced to ruin. >>> still ahead for us tonight, the big scare here at the games today and suddenly the risk of head injuries is front and center once again. >>> and later, traveling across this vast and beautiful land on one of the world's most famous trains. mary carillo takes us on the two most storied rails in the world. >>> back here in sochi tonight. this year's olympics, just like back at home in the nfl, more than ever we're hearing more and more talk about the danger and prevention of head injuries. at the women'

mark potter joins us from miami. mark, just who is guzman and what can you tell us about the arrest? >> reporter: guzman is considered by most to be the most powerful drug trafficker in the world, the most sought-after drug trafficker in the world. now he's been arrested. so that arrest is being celebrated by folks at the d.e.a. and in mexico who have been chasing him ever since 2001 when he had been arrested and then escaped from a maximum security prison in a laundry truck. he then rose to become the head of the notorious sinaloa drug cartel, the biggest drug cartel in mexico responsible for hundreds of tons of marijuana coming into the u.s. every year, along with methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin. so his arrest is seen as the equivalent of the arrest of pablo escobar back in the day in clo colombia and even osama bin laden. what we know is from a senior law enforcement official that he was picked up overnight at a resort or at a hotel or condominium in mazatlan. he was with an unidentified woman. the arrest went

mark potter is live for us in miami with an inside look at the man responsible for much of the drug trafficited states. mark, good morning. >> good morning, david. to the mexican government and u.s. drug agents, the arrest of joaquin guzman, "el chapo" or "shorty," is equivalent to the il canning of pablo escobar in columbia or even osama bin laden in the war on terror. el chappo has been sought for years and legends grew he was incidence -- invincible. but now he has been caught. the arrest this weekend by mexican marines of joaquin "el chappo" guzman ends this year's long reign as the man widely believed to be the most powerful and prolific drug trafficker in the world. the drug cartel he headed were infamous for their levels of brutality throughout mexico and the u.s. boarder. >> when most of america thinks of organized crime, they naturally think of guys like john gotti, sammy "the bull" gravano, even al capone. but the reality of the situation is chapo guzman made those guys look like boy scouts. >> authorities say the sinaloa cartel has long been mexico's longest drug trafficking orga

mark potter joins me now. appreciate it, mark. first i want to get to that point.mccall over the weekend said that guzman should be extradited to the u.s. is that realistic? do you anticipate that's going to happen? >> not for some time. the mexicans have already said they want to try him first and want to put him back in prison from which he escaped 13 years ago. u.s. officials have a lot of charges against him and six or seven u.s. cities and like to see him come here to face those charges. but the reality is that he is in mexico. he is a mexican. the mexicans captured him and they want to try him first. and it's a matter of pride in the country. so i think it's highly unlikely we're going to see him here in this country for quite some time. this search for chapo in mexico lasted for more than a decade since that escape in 2001. but he was always in the mountains, very hard to get and very protected. he paid off everyone. he was a robin hood and paid locals and he was highly protected. what we're hearing is that a year ago, he started to come into the city and he

mark potter is live in miami. hello, mark. and give some people -- our viewers some perspective.porter: well, for mexico and for people fighting in the war on drugs, this is huge. this is as big as it gets. joaquin el chapo guzman, known as "shorty" guzman was considered one of the most powerful and most wanted drug trafficker in the world and has been captured. he led a drug cartel in the mountains in the western part of that country. and for years, authorities had been trying to get him. but they were unable. at the same time as they were searching for him, he was pouring hundreds of tons of marijuana into the united states every year, along with huge amounts of methamphetamine and heroin. his organization was very violent. a lot of the bloody wars that were occurring along the border in the last few years are the result of his organization fighting with other organizations. and so he was long sought. and this is a huge victory for the mexican marines and for the dea who worked in collaboration to bring about this arrest. a senior law enforcement official tells us that this hap

mark potter is in miami with more on this.was truly remarkable. >> reporter: absolutely. this was remarkable and chronicaled by a photographer who helped first, then took pictures. that boy is being treated here at the hospital in miami. doctors say he's in critical, but stable condition after a close call in which a number of strangers ran in to help. 5-month-old sedati bags was bor premature. suffering from decongestion, they were returning from a doctors visit when an emergency occurred. >> we have several reports of a woman exiting her vehicle screaming for help. >> reporter: her nephew just stopped breathing. out of the car, she dropped to the ground to help the child. >> i administered cpr. i was scared to do it because it's been seven years since i learned how to do it. >> reporter: in his car was a photo journalist, al diaz who ran to find help. >> i turned toward traffic trying to flag somebody down. >> reporter: this woman rushed to help and comfort and dial 911. diaz found a sweet water police officer. >> your child

mark potter's in miami this morning with the very latest on the little boy's condition. le boy is being treated here at the holtz children's hospital in miami. doctors say he is in critical but stable condition after a very close call that brought a number of strangers running to help. 5-month-old sebastian de la cruz, seen in these home videos, was born last september, two months premature, suffering from congestion, he and his aunt were returning from a doctor's visit when an emergency occurred. the incident on this miami highway was broadcast live on local radio. >> we have several reports of a woman exiting her vehicle, screaming for help. >> reporter: pamela rauseo's nephew, sebastian, had just stopped breathing. out of the car, she dropped to the ground to help the child. >> i administered cpr, which i was scared to do, because it's seven years since i learned how to do it. >> and i started hearing screaming. >> reporter: behind rauseo in his car was photojournalist al diaz, who ran for help. >> i turned in towards traffic trying to flag somebody down. and lucila st

nbc's mark potter has the story. >> reporter: the arrest this weekend by mexican marines of joaquin guzman ends his year-long rein as the man to be the most powerful and prolific drug trafficker in the world. authorities say he and the drug cartel which headed were infamous for their levels of brutality throughout mexico and along the u.s. border. >> when most of america thinks of organized crime they think of john gotti and even guys like al capone. but the reality of the situation is joaquin guzman made those boys look like boy scouts. >> reporter: authorities say the cartel has long been mexico's largest drug trafficking organization and supplying the united states with most of its marijuana, methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine. >> maybe 90% of the drugs that came into this country loonged to guzman. >> reporter: officials say guzman was arrested here in this condo and he offered no resistance and no one was hurt. sources say u.s. agents from the dea, ice, and the u.s. marshal service helped to lead to the arrest. in addition to facing charges in mexico guzman is indicted in a half doze

nbc's mark potter is in atlanta for us. mark? >> reporter: good morning to you, natalie.ozen there for hours and hours during the storm two weeks ago, that patieralyzed atlanta. but this time, officials will be more prepared. overnight, salt trucks were loaded up, they'll be preparing the roads when the conditions are ripe for that. it's only raining and the temperatures are well above freezing, but tonight and tomorrow we are expecting freezing rain and snow in this area. as ice on the roads, power outages, people are being urged to stay off the roads until the storm passes. natalie? >> all right, mark potter, thanks so much. >>> well, president obama and the first lady are hosting french president tonight. he is newly single after a reported affair and breakup and long time girlfriend. he'll get a grand reception reserved for the closest allies. >>> both sides in the syria civil war resume their peace talks. some of the cities have seen some of the worst fighting. nbc's bill neely reports. >> reporter: daily life. daily deaths in syria's besieged suburb. the regime poun

mark potter, nbc news, miami. >>> big changes could be coming to the u.s. army.efense secretary chuck hagel is recommending billions of dollars in annual budget cuts that would limit pay raises and increase health care premiums. under the plan, the army would shrink to the smallest force since the world war ii build-up. likely to face fierce opposition on capitol hill. >>> the nation's governors at the white house again today. they had dinner with president obama sunday night as part of their winter conference. and today the president will urge them to team up for what he calls a year of action. the message, if congress won't act, then the white house will work with the states directly to get things done. >>> some bad news this morning for drivers, gas prices are up 12 cents in just two weeks. the national average for regular is now $3.41 per gallon. experts say crude oil prices are up because of violence in petroleum-producing nations venezuela and south sudan. >>> and scary moments for a florida pilot this weekend after an uninvited passenger decided to hop a r

mark barton. won besttor of gravity director for the science fiction directed harrys potter.guest is the director for- he is finance films ise king's speech." the u.k. becoming the preferred hub for the filming industry. thank you for coming in. you missed a big party. we do appreciate it. >> he is missing a good party. we appreciate that. >> you were last -- you were there last night. pretty split worthy awards. gravity won 6. is that about fair? >> yes, i would say it was. it has been a terrific year. it shows the spread of influence of films in hollywood. "12 years a slave" is a british film and directed by a brick. -- brit. >> i know lots of the special effects are british. >> it was filmed. >> what is a british film? >> you answered your own found -- question. it was filmed here. being shot in hollywood at this moment in time. we are boasting fails. there are draws in california. things like "avengers 2." slave"said "12 years a was a reddish movie but was not shot here. is one that originated. not beenueen, he has given the book of by his wife. filled in the u.s. in a ve