senator johnny isaacson, congressman peter king. it's thursday, december 20th, and "starting point" begins right now. >>> good morning, welcome, everybody. the first significant winter storm of the season is our starting point this morning. it threatens to derail some holiday travel plans for maybe millions of americans along with the snow. there's also a threat of tornados in the south. the governor of wisconsin has declared a state of emergency even before the storm hits. six states across the midwest are under blizzard warnings. the system stretches all the way from the great lakes to colorado. the rocky mountain state already taking a big beating. 156-mile stretch of interstate 70 had to be shut down yesterday because of the snow. it reopened late last night. >>> this morning, 36,000 people are without power in the state of iowa. lots of folks hoping to get a jump on the holiday travel rush, but they might have to turn to another plan. meteorologist alexandria steele has been...

>> what a mess. all right, alexandra steele for us, thank you for monitoring that. let's get right to john. >>> we're learning more about the days leading up to the newtown massacre. friends of nancy lanza saying she was in new hampshire taking a vacation at a hotel. that's about a four-hour drive from newtown in the days before the attack. they say she felt comfortable leaving him alone for three days. the morning after her return, she was dead. take a look at this photo. all but one of the students in this first grade class picture were killed. all but one. that's really another reminder of the enormity of this tragedy. today funerals for three more children, two teachers and sandy hook's elementary principal, dawn hochsprung. sandra endo is in newtown following these developments. good morning, sandra. >> reporter: good morning, john. that's right, six more funerals here in newtown today and 6-year-old allison wyatt, 6-year-old benjamin wheeler, 6-year-old catherine...