>> john yang and a cold night in chicago. john, thanks. let's get a preview now of this southern storm. al roker is at the map here in the studio with more on that. al? >> that's right. to give you a sense of this, brian, if you're 25 years old and live in tallahassee or younger, you have never experienced anything like this. we have windchill ice warnings to the southeast. and to the north we have the windchill warnings as well. so we're talking about 60 million people affected by some sort of warning or watch tonight into tomorrow morning. here is what we've got. again, another piece of that polar vortex breaks off. the cold air all the way down in the panhandle of florida. look at the windchills. by tomorrow morning it will feel like 36 in chicago. 22 below in cleveland. 18 below in syracuse. new york city will feel like 1 below. and 38 in charleston. now, with this big winter snow and ice storm, here is what is happening. this cold air coming down, funneling all the way down into florida. gulf moisture riding up and over it as it does.

john yang, nbc news, south holland, illinois. >>> the federal government said something today about iran that we don't hear very often. they said that iran has taken, quote, concrete actions that represent an important step forward. this came after iran moved to scale back its nuclear program, and the u.s. and europe started to lift some sanctions as part of that interim agreement. we get the story tonight from nbc's andrea mitchell. >> reporter: the seal of approval came from u.n. weapons inspectors today. disconnecting the centrifuges that have been producing iran's high-grade 20% enriched uranium. fuel that can easily be upgraded to power a nuclear weapon. >> everything going as planned. the 20% enrichment has been stopped. >> reporter: iran has complied by limiting its uranium enrichment to lower levels, granting full access to u.n. inspectors, diluting current uranium stockpiles. halting construction on a separate plutonium plant. within hours, europe and washington lifted some of the sanctions that have cripple iran's economy, permitting some oil exports, imports of auto and airpla

our report tonight from nbc's john yang. >> reporter: when the fire chief arrived on the scene early this morning, it was, he said, a ball of fire, total conflagration. neighbors heard cries for help from balconies. flames whipped by high winds and sub-zero temperatures. the chief called it a night from hell. daylight revealed smoldering wreckage encrusted in ice. this man drove all night from montreal and fears his 99-year-old mother didn't make it out. >> my motto, she is blind. she is handicapped. she moved this person first, okay, and she is still there. i can't believe it. >> reporter: officials say most of the 52 residents were older than 75. only five could get around on their own. "i can't get over it", this man says. and there is still a lot of bodies there. officials say only part of the building had a sprinkler system. today, about a third of the complex remains standing. in the united states, there were two fires in 2003, in connecticut, 16 people died at a hartford nursing home. and seven months later, 15 people personished at a nashville facility. >> the sprinklers woul

john yang, nbc news, chicago. >>> federal prosecutors said today they will seek the death penalty for boston bombing suspect dzhokhar tsarnaev. the final decision was made by the u.s. attorney general, eric holder. tsarnaev is accused of planting two bombs with his brother near the finish line of the boston marathon, kill league people, wounding over 260 others, many of them now amputees. his brother died in the shoot-out with police. no trial date has been set. >>> a big turn of events tonight for a one-time american exchange stay tuned amanda knox. just over two years after she was acquitted of an earlier murder conviction in italy and set free to return to the states, her jury now says in her second retrial she is guilty of killing her roommate. we get our report tonight from nbc's keith millner italy. >> reporter: two years ago, everyone thought this was the last word. amanda knox aged her former boyfriend raffaele sollecito winning their freedom on appeal after serving four years in prison. tonight a stunning reversal. a guilty verdict, with knox sentenced to 28 1/2 years in pris

john yang, nbc news, sycamore, illinois. >>> still ahead for us tonight, the pay gap. maria shriver and her new eye-opening report that has women across the country talking. that would include beyonce, fighting to right a wrong. >>> and later, mystery solved. the underground explosions in the middle of the night. they have tracked down the cause. night. they have tracked down the cause. are you flo? yes. is this the thing you gave my husband? well, yeah, yes. the "name your price" tool. you tell us the price you want to pay, and we give you a range of options to choose from. careful, though -- that kind of power can go to your head. that explains a lot. yo, buddy! i got this. gimme one, gimme one, gimme one! the power of the "name your price" tool. only from progressive. ♪ [ male announcer ] bob's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack, be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] your eyes. even at a dista

john yang, nbc news, south holland, illinois. >>> the federal government said something today about iran that we don't hear very often. they said that iran has taken, quote, concrete actions that represent an important step forward. this came after iran moved to scale back its nuclear program, and the u.s. and europe started to lift some sanctions as part of that interim agreement. we get the story tonight from nbc's andrea mitchell. >> reporter: the seal of approval came from u.n. weapons inspectors today. disconnecting the centrifuges that have been producing iran's high-grade 20% enriched uranium. fuel that can easily be upgraded to power a nuclear weapon. >> everything going as planned. the 20% enrichment has been stopped. >> reporter: iran has complied by limiting its uranium enrichment to lower levels, granting full access to u.n. inspectors diluting current uranium stockpiles. halting construction on a separate plutonium plant. within hours, europe and washington lifted some of the sanctions that have cripple iran's economy, permitting some oil exports, imports of auto and airplan

john yang is live for us in honolulu. to get back to chicago weather on monday? >> reporter: oh, hi, andrea, how are you? >> just fine. >> it's warm in the studio. john yang -- you will pay for this when you go back to chicago. >> reporter: my heart goes out to kevin tibbles, i've been thinking about him and all the work he's been doing. >> it's hard duty covering the president's golf game, isn't it? >> reporter: well, the president is always the president no matter where he goes. he's working. and the white house unit is always the white house unit wherever he goes. still working hard and still covering what he's doing and it is now 68 degrees here in honolulu. it is 12 back in home where i work in chicago where i'm based in chicago. i got an e-mail earlier from a colleague said he had 14 inches of snow. we were going to measure the sand depth to see how it compared but we haven't gotten down to it yet. >> the closest president will get to ice is shaved ice when he takes the girls out for a shaved ice treat. >> reporter:

. >> we called john yang to start fulfilling its international commitments.o start fulfilling its international commitments. >> today's birthday contrasted sharply with the drop in the country last month as north korea and learn how their leader had purged his uncle. dennis rodman' is old to talk about human rights records or nuclear program has drawn criticism from several quarters, including these defectors insole -- in seoul. i am just an athlete, he told reporters. what his access can really achieve. very strange scene. last night we reported on the smog clogging many cities. of how the a story government hopes to tackle this problem. the leadingcome producer of wind power. almost a quarter of all wind turbines worldwide. david has the story. moment at a huge wind turbine. a massive blade is being maneuvered. this is the scene of a frantic boon in wind power. this engineer said it used to take two days to do one turbine. they can do to in a day. this is just the beginning. china wants to double the number of turbines in the next six years. they are instal

john yang is standing by for us. departs for d.c. tonight. what's on his agenda once he gets back to the white house? >> on tuesday, he has an event in the east room in which he'll urge congress to extends and renew the extended unemployment insurance benefits that expired at the end of last year, that about 1.3 million americans lost their benefits with that. the event will also have a number of people who fall into that category who did lose their benefits. he'll also be preparing for the state of the union dress which will be coming in about three weeks. part of that one big theme which plays into the unemployment benefits is the theme of economic fairness. we expect to hear him push hard in the state of the union address for an increase in the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour where it is currently to $10.10 an hour. part of this is to differentiate themselves from the republicans as we get into the 2014 midterm election campaigns that will heat up and culminate in the elections in november. another big issue that

john yang joins us. >> reporter: these two actions are intended to strengthen the federal background check for gun ownership, particularly for owners who may not -- may be prohibited from buying guns because of a mental illness. they are from the justice department, defining -- redefining language and definitions about what information gets put into that federal background check database. and also, changing from the department of health and human services some privacy regulations about what information states can add to the database about people's mental health treatment and backgrounds. the white house says this is an effort to show americans that they are still concerned about gun control. they started 20 -- they started 2013 talking about gun control after the newtown shootings. and it went nowhere in congress. the question is, whether this indicates a new tact or how the white house is going to approach issues like this where they have been unable to put things through the republican controlled house, whether they are going to be taking unilateral action like this. officials say

nbc's john yang is traveling with the president on the last day of his vacation in honolulu. used his weekly address to once again make the case for unemployment benefits. take a listen. >> denying families that security is just plain cruel. we're a better country than that. we don't abandon our fellow americans when times get tough. we keep the faith with them until they start that new job. >> john, what do we know about how republicans are planning to deal with this issue, the issue of extending unemployment benefits? >> reporter: the majority leader cantor says it's not on the agenda, it's not one of the things the house is going to take up when they get back to work later this month or in a couple of days. but house speaker john boehner is now saying that he is willing to considering renewing the long-term unemployment benefits if it is paid for. the senate bill doesn't pay for it. and if the bill also includes something that would boost the economy, that would help create jobs. the administration says that not renewing hurts jobs. that by taking that money out of the econ

john yang with the report. >> reporter: one of the most horrible accidents i have ever seen -- >> reporter: whiteout conditions lead to a massive chain reaction collision outside michigan city, indiana, trapping motorists beneath the wreckage. the treacherous conditions making it difficult for emergency responders. >> it's horrific not just for everybody out history but for the families. >> reporter: late thursday, the police released information about those killed. a husband and wife from grand rapids, michigan, and a-year-old chicago man and his pet golden retriever. witnesses said they could hear the crash from at least two miles away. >> sounded like a train coming off the rails. >> reporter: police say 40 vehicles including 15 semis are involved in the pileup which brought eastbound traffic along the major interstate to a sta standstill. the backup stretched 15 miles. >> complete whiteout. >> reporter: this woman was in the middle of the mess and spoke by phone with nbc station wmaq in chicago. >> like a parking lot, wall-to-wall cars and trucks. >> reporter: one of the injured spoke

as my colleague john yang reported yesterday, a major part of president obama's upcoming state of theill be about economic fairness, particularly a minimum wage increase. where do you put the chances of that actually passing? >> well, i think the chances are good, but i think there's a battle ahead. i think we've got to be very determined in making the case for it. number one is having three 95% increases to get us to $10.10 i think is reasonable. it makes sense for those workers, but it's also a lift for the economy. the other part about the minimum wage, which is sometimes lost, is if we look at what's happening to children in this country, childhood poverty has been persistently high, neither party really has done enough to lift children out of poverty. if you pass an increase in the minimum wage, more than 15.5 million children live in households where the mother or the father or the caretaker is given a lift by way of an increase in the minimum wage. so if all you care about is lifting children out of poverty, the minimum wage is one way to do it in addition to the obvious benefi

we sent john yang to the hawkeye state to see if bridge-gate is having an impact. >> reporter: at thene shed restaurant in iowa, the monthly meeting of the ruby rebels, two topics are out of bounds. religion and politics. for us, they made an exception. what do you think of what's going on with chris christie? >> well, i any it's very interesting. i can't imagine that he could be clueless when you shut down a major bridge. >> reporter: glenda dawson is a registered democrat saying he sometimes votes republican. >> i don't think that plays very well. no matter what party you are on. >> reporter: georgia's peerson's view has changed. >> i thought he had been bipartisan maybe and to fine out that this was a very political thing really changed my opinion. >> reporter: the road to the white house begins here in iowa. but could gridlock on the george washington bridge block a christie run? republican david rinder says the whole thing is silly. >> it's so strange that you think messing with someone's drive to work is going to be retribution to maynor. seems sort of comical and made up. >> re

john yang is right by the beach in honolulu and has the latest. john?weekend president obama will trade the sunshine and warm temperatures of hawaii for the cold and snow of washington. and when he arrives, he'll get right back into it, talking about his agenda for 2014 on tuesday at the white house. he'll give a speech calling on congress to renew long-term unemployment insurance benefits. that expired at the end of last year. he'll also be preparing for his state of the union address, one big theme we expect to hear about is income equality. he'll ask congress to raise the minimum wage from the current $7.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour. another issue he's working on and will have something to say in washington is the overhauling the national security agency's data gathering program. he came to hawaii with a big fat briefing book about proposed changes presented to him by an independent panel. he's likely to say something early in january, even before the state of the union address about that. another thing he's been briefed on every day while he's in ha

nbc's john yang. >> reporter: it was the much anticipated highlight of the auto show. >> ladies and gentlemenedecessors, and here's the surprise. it's not made of steel, but of aluminum. >> the aluminum, pound-for-pound, is tougher than steel. >> reporter: it's also a big gamble by a company used to taking risks. ford was the only carmaker not to take a government bailout, and this isn't just any pickup. it's america's pickup. more than 33 million sold, more than 11 million still on the road. >> ford is going for fuel efficiency and durability. if it can put that combination together, this could be a big change for ford. >> reporter: it will be made of the aluminum grade like used in the humvee, but it will be used in families. howard's 2006 f-150 hit 100,000 miles. not ford tough? >> doesn't sound very ford tough. >> reporter: it could make a convert out of trapper jason, a chevy guy. >> you save gas, save weight, and get more power out of your truck for not pushing 800 pounds down the street, somebody's doing something right, you know? >> reporter: waiting to see if there'll be an aluminum

nbc's john yang has the latest on that. good morning to you. >> reporter: matt, right now, workers are clearing the last of the debris getting ready to reopen the stretch of 94. it took nearly 16 hours to clear the vehicles involved in the crash that left three dead and 20 injured. at the time of the accident, visibility was almost zero. >> the horrific one i have seen. >> reporter: whiteout conditions lead to a massive chain reaction collision outside michigan city, indiana, trapping motorists in their cars beneath the wreckage. the treacherous conditions make it difficult for emergency responders. >> it's not only for everybody out here, but for the families. >> late thursday, police released information about those killed. a husband and wife from grand rapids, michigan, and a 66-year-old chicago man and his pet golden retriever. witnesses said they could hear the crash from two miles away. >> sounded like a train coming off the rails. >> reporter: police say 40 vehicles including 15 semis were involved in the pile-up bri

i want to bring in now nbc's john yang traveling with the president in hawaii. . thank you very much. >> any reaction from the white house in terms of what judge sonia sotomayor did last night? >> reporter: not yet. it happened fairly early in the evening here in hawaii time. we reached out to the white house and they said not to expect a statement last night. that if anything would come out, it would come out today at the earliest, but even then there's no guarantee. as dominico reported, the administration feels that they have already given an opt-out for religious groups, but the religious groups feel that in order to do that, they still have to sign on to the insurance that covers birth control and that they feel that that would already violate their religious beliefs. >> you know, the president has a few more days left. you've been there a few days. have any sense of what the first agenda items are and any more insight into the state of the union? >> reporter: well, i think you're going to hear a lot in the state of the union about income equality. it's a to

let's get to john yang in wisconsin this morning, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, savannah. preparing for a big annual snow sculpting competition. no worries about this stuff melting right now. it is 17 below zero right now. natural gas heating bill. s are expected to be about 10% higher this year than last year. in the northeast, 17% higher. if you use propane, 20% more to heat their homes this year than last. and schools are closed from minnesota to pittsburgh and that includes the university of michigan closed for weather for the first time since 1978. savannah? >> thank you so much. and we want to turn to al with the rest of the forecast. >> that's right, guys. let's take a look currently. the hudson river. check this out. this is a chopper, our wnbc chopper. we are looking at basically ice and they are going to start breaking this stuff up. these are the piers along the hudson in downtown manhattan. it's going to get worse as we show you chopper 4 and you can see the skyline right now. bitter cold currently around much of the northern part of the country. in fact, 80 m

yang of the british invasion. let's listen to both, first the stones. ♪ >> so, john, the beatles came across as more polished.at why the beatles were so much more popular here in america in 1964, do you think? >> well, sort of. a lot of journalists were actually perplexed by the beatles. we look today, looking backwards and we see them as polished and everything else. but initially, journalists were really a bit taken aback by their hairdo's and response they brought about. it was a sexual charisma that was tamed and domesticated, i would say, for the young female fans. the stones, of course, went in a much more radical direction in the sense that they were the group that would appeal to a more disaffected young people. and certainly there's a big bifurcation there. >> well, i like both of them. i think they're both great. john mcmillan, i appreciate that. stay warm in atlanta. 50 years ago the beatles arrived in the states for their first american tour. see it all unfold as it happened with rare footage and interviews from the band that led the british invasion. "the british invasion" premieres thursday nigh