jeff rossen out at laguardia tonight. jeff, thanks for that. >>> we mentioned this other casualty of this storm, and if you're an nfl fan like our household, it was a big deal. the postponement of last night's sunday night nfl game in philadelphia, the eagles against, of all teams, the visiting vikings from minnesota, where they don't scare easily when it snows. again, the official reasoning, public safety. people coming to the stadium. the worry now is, does this set a precedent about when and when they will not play football outdoors? michelle kaczynski is in philadelphia for us tonight. a lot of talk about this game tonight down there in philly, right, michelle? >> reporter: that's right, brian. after the initial shock of this winter blast comes this raging debate on the airwaves, in the papers over this game. here's the philadelphia daily news, showing pictures of everybody involved, calling them the wimps that stole christmas. pointing out all the historic games that have been played during blizzard. tonight, the gov

michelle miller is at laguardia airport with the latest. michelle, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, harry. well, activity has picked up at all three new york city airports. but with more than 500 flight cancellations today, for every plane that took off two more never made it off the ground. for 12 frustrating hours, passengers on a cafe pacific flight from vancouver to new york were stuck on the tarmac at kennedy airport today. officials say there just wasn't any space at the gates. slowly but surely, more planes are taking off, struggling to make up for the more than 6,500 flights canceled since sunday >> i told my daughter i wouldn't leave until i saw the plane take off. >> reporter: it was another rough night for some 200 travelers at laguardia. some have been told they could be stuck here through the weekend. >> take it one day at a time and pretend like it's some expedition, like you're going on a camping trip. >> reporter: the problem? once a flight has been canceled, it takes 36 to 72 hours to match crews with planes again.

michelle miller is at new york's laguardia airport. michelle, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, harry here at laguardia there are just ten flights on the arrival board and with just two departures set to go out tonight, it isn't likely this many travelers waiting here will be flying out. at new york city's laguardia airport, stranded passengers could do nothing but watch as plows worked late into the day to clear off more than a foot of snow. so far, only one of laguardia's two runways has been reopened. >> thank you. >> reporter: tanya myck was headed back to bozeman, montana, with her dog charlie but they've been stuck here for the last 24 hours. myck was among the 250 people who toughed it out overnight on cots, chairs, even the marble floor. >> you just make your peace with it. all right, i'm stuck here for 24 okay. >> reporter: so how many nights have you been stranded? >> four nights in total. >> reporter: london native antonio christopher began his journey to the caribbean last week just as a blizzard socked london. he sp

cbs's michelle miller at laguardia airport today.people died in a fire overnight in new orleans. the fire happened in an abandoned building. the victims had been trying to stay warm by burning wood in a barrel. some survivors were able to escape by climbing out of a window. >>> and who do americans look up to the most? for the third year in a row, president obama tops the most admired men in the annual gallup poll followed by former presidents >>> this weather rort >>> this weather report, sponsored by xpeed dsponsor ed expedia, the best travel booked in one place. where you book matters. expedia. >>> interesting bit of information, yesterday's blizzard actually resembled a category 2 hurricane with wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour. russ, back inside to you. >> what i like about that sentence is, "yesterday." thank you, sara. >>> all or nothing when it comes to dieting or changing the way you eat. we'll show you thousand make small changes with big results. you're watching "the early show" on cbs. hese: unpublished rates. which mea

michelle miller is at laguardia airport with the latest. michelle, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, harry. well, activity has picked up at

>> reporter: and anger management for passengers at new york's laguardia airport. >> what do you mean calm down? i need sympathy right now, don't tell me to calm down! >> reporter: many of these passengers trying to leave had been booked, rebooked and rebooked again. >> i'm ready to get out of here. i love new york but i'm ready to go home. >> reporter: there's still snow on the ground but the runways are open and the sky is clear and generally flights are coming and going on time but there are still delays and cancellations like any other day. and flight crews are still scattered all over the country. >> when they have cancellations and diversions of flights, the airlines end up with airplanes and air crews in cities where they don't belong. so, it takes them a while to shake that out. >> reporter: more than 5,000 flights at laguardia, jfk and newark's airport were canceled due to the blizzard. an estimated $150 million loss for the airlines. at new york's laguardia airport, employees have been working extra long shifts to keep this city within a city running, from janitors to food w

delays at times up to six hours here at laguardia. we're cutting that rate in half tonight. what this storm is going to do is unleash us from these 60-degree highs we had today here in new york, back to more seasonable conditions and open up the snow gates, especially for the great lakes. so everybody getting a dose of reality coming back. the first day of climatology winter went off with a big bang here in new york. >> jim cantore at laguardia tonight. jim, thanks. >>> when our broadcast continues tonight, a scary holiday season for families losing something big they count on for this time of year. >>> later, how needles, and thread and word of mouth are making a difference in the lives of children. needles, and threat and word of mouth are making a difference in the lives of children. on the wings of lunesta. eep is here, and if you wake up often in the middle of the night... rest is here, on the wings of lunesta. lunesta helps you fall asleep and stay asleep, so you can wake up feeling rested. when taking lunesta, don't drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awak

this was chicago's o'hare. >> i was supposed to land at laguardia at 4:20 yesterday and they canceled the flight. they rebooked me on a flight for this morning, which also got canceled. >> reporter: and atlanta's hartsfield. >> i'm back to a 3:40 flight. >> reporter: the blizzard conditions knocked out electricity to tens of thousands. >> i used to like snow. not sure i like it anymore. >> reporter: but it wasn't all misery. some seeking shelter from the storm, the smiles tell their stories. >>> let's take a look at conditions back east and turn things over to rob. how's it look? sfwl right now, a big difference from 24 hours ago. on the radar, we have snow across the new england states, but the snowfall tapering off. this after almost two to three feet of snow falling in places like new jersey and around central park. more than 20 inches of snow came down. things are drying out and clearing out in time for tomorrow night's tuesday night football. around the bay area, you've got clouds shlipping in. we're tracking a strong storm system that's going to pack a lot of wind and heavy rain

michelle miller at laguardia airport. >> we have a special weather contributor with us this morning from indianapolis. we kid you not, her name is sarah snow. sarah snow, good morning. >> good morning. don't blame me, please. i didn't bring the snow. >> welcome. >> thank you very much. nice to be here this morning. quite a big day for the weather this morning. we are still getting some snow accumulation outside. that's going to tamer as we move throughout the day. you can see rain further to the east but we're getting snow here in new york city, and that is continuing up the east coast right now. we actually had a phenomenon where we had thunder snow which happens from the friction of the ice crystals in the clouds. it was a pretty interesting phenomenon yesterday evening. that cleared out, though. what we're witnessing is snowfall, 15 to 30 inches in new york city and new jersey, that's tapering getting less and less as we move north. 12 to 20 inches in portland. and that's all going to taper off by about this evening. a

flights to laguardia barely moving.e were forced to change their plans. >> you have to wait in this long line. i have been here 2 1/2 hours already just to see if i got another flight. >> reporter: in response to the severe weather, most carriers have waived their fees for flight changes through the 27th. >> air trans has been very gracious to try to get us out of here. >> reporter: with the heavy snow to last in the northeast corridor through this evening, travelers can expect more delays, long lines and a good deal of frustration. >> i tried to get on amtrak, but it's the same situation, they're an hour holding on amtrak to try to get through. >> reporter: last night even the train option had been taken off the board as all traffic was canceled between new york city and boston. >> we're debating whether to try to get a hotel room or just be troopers or survivors just to stay all night here tonight. >> reporter: the latest word is that newark, jfk and laguardia should all open at 4:00 this afternoon. it won't be easy g

the weather channel's eric fisher is at new york's laguardia airport. eric, good morning, what's the story there? >> reporter: good morning, lester. the song "we wish you a merry christmas" doesn't mention the day after christmas. that's going to prove to be a travel nightmare for a lot of folks. we are outside of laguardia, quiet at a moment, but we have seen a bit of a rush this morning. a lot of people changed their flights to get out early to beat the storm as things change in a big way this afternoon. i went to check the boards a few minutes ago. very few cancellations for the morning flights, but around 10:00 or so:30, good news for you. later as the snow moves in we'll see many cancellations and the airports could be really brought to a standstill across the northeast as we are looking at hundreds of canceled flights between delta, continental, united, airtran and others. >> we are talking laguardia, kennedy and newark. what's the timing of this storm hitting new york? >> reporter: well, i'm expecting the snowflakes to start falling down in the n

they weren't scheduled to leave laguardia until friday. but her persistence with the ticket agent got her on a flight out of newark airport this afternoon. >> i stood in the long line and a miracle happened and i got on. i did -- not only did not get a standby ticket but i got two tickets out of newark. >> reporter: anger is boiling over here, too. one passenger on a flight to west palm beach told us security was called to a gate of frustrated passengers. he said they were angry that their flight was canceled. michelle miller, cbs news, new york. >>> in miami's main airport tied up tuesday after a bag exploded on the tarmac after it came off a plane. police had to search every other bag on that american airlines flight from boston after that blast. officials say the luggage contained hundreds of bullet parts. one exploded setting off all the others. the bag's owner was arrested but the fbi says there is no connection to terrorism. >>> inspectors will check out a ski lift in maine that broke tuesday causing eight injuries. witnesses at the

and this live picture from laguardia airport tonight. our roving luggage cam as passengers wait there to find a flight. and tonight, chris bury with a headline we couldn't believe, now more than 48 hours after the storm ended. >> reporter: three days into this, the unthinkable happened again. passengers stuck overnight on the tarmac at new york's kennedy airport. this time, at least four international flights unable to find open gates, passengers trapped within sight of the terminal for up to nine hours. >> i feel like there could have been other things to be done instead of keeping you waiting. >> reporter: today, "world news" caught up with frustrated flyers. >> what do you think her answer was? all sold out. >> i bet. >> reporter: could they finally find flights? >> it's been extremely frustrating, chaotic and headache-inducing to travel during christmas this year. >> reporter: we found melissa west stranded at o'hare, trying to get home to cincinnati. >> i think i missed my flight. >> reporter: after a family holiday, she and her hus

hotel laguardia is up and running. people are brushing hair and teeth in the bathrooms preparing for another potentially full day here at the airport. flights won't leave until 2:00 p.m. this blizzard has stopped traffic cold. >> it may be tuesday when we get to go home. >> reporter: all three major new york airports shut down. all flights still suspended. the 250 passengers stranded at laguardia were grateful for cots. >> hopefully, we make it to india the day after tomorrow. my wedding is a week and a half. >> reporter: there was a moment of hope that jason would take off afterall when his flight boarded at 5:00 p.m. then he started tweeting about the 4 1/2 hour ordeal from the tarmac. >> the wind was going at 40 or 50 miles an hour. we started to shake. >> reporter: delta canceled about one-sixth of its schedule. united airlines canceled 1 so flights. waer woes felt all the way to the west coast 37. >> it's all right to get to vegas. from vegas to philadelphia, it stops. >>>. >> reporter: national rail service also

>> reporter: and anger management for passengers at new york's laguardia airport. >> what do you mean, calm down? don't tell me to calm down! >> reporter: many of these american airlines passengers trying to leave have been booked and rebooked and rebooked again. >> i'm ready to get out of here. i love new york but i'm ready to go home. >> reporter: there is still snow on the ground but the runways are open and the sky is clear. and generally, flights are coming and going on time. but there are still delays and cancellations like any other day. and flight crews are still scattered all over the country. >> when they have cancellations and diversions of flights, the airlines end up with planes and crews in cities where they don't belong. >> reporter: more than 5,000 flights at laguardia, jfk and newark's airport were cancelled due to the blizzard. an estimated $150 million loss for the airlines. at new york's laguardia airport, employees have been working extra long shift to keep this city within a city running from janitors to food workers taking care of hundreds who spent the night. b

>> michelle miller at laguardia airport again this morning, thank you very much. now here's rebecca. >>> new worries on the west coast as a new round of storms is set to pound california bringing the fear of more mudslides and flooding. nick james of sacramento affiliate in blue canyon, california, with the late e. good morning, nick. >> reporter: rebecca, good morning. the latest storm is packing quite a wallop. we are getting a break from the snow that's been falling and the wind gusts in excess of 40 miles per hour. in the low eer elevations, the concern of power outages and more flooding. heavy rains and winds is pounding northern and central california. just one week after southern california was inundated by rain and floods. tuesday, it snowed in the sierras north of san francisco. heavy, wet snow that made driving hazardous. >> my first time driving in the snow like this. it's pretty scary. >> reporter: a little further south, warmer air turned the snow to rain, rained so much that the ma rin county reservoirs at 97% capacity. almost 30% higher than the nor

at laguardia we had three planes come in with no gates to park.pent several hours finding gates, polling every plane to put them at the gate. we're taking on the responsibility which is something that belongs to the airlines. >> reporter: one bay area rights advocate says the fingerprinting won't help people stuck for hours. >> it's embarrassing in the u.s. that we don't have plans at the airports. the airports were not required to have contingency plans. that's a mistake. >>> coming up in sports: the 49ers start the interview process for their vacant general manager's position. and the first tuesday nfl game since 1946 with surprising results. sports next. u=b(b]@@ >>> all right. 49ers search for a general manager officially underway. jed york brought in the first of the candidates today. he brought in tony softy from the rams and carolina panthers. he will also interview ted sunquist. he already has trent balky in his pocket. so stay tuned as the candidates continue to be interviewed. pro bowl honors are out. patrick willis. been to the pro bowl

. >> flew over laguardia for an hour. >> see anything but snow? >> we circled for an hour. >> they ended up transferring us to harrisburg. >> we get a bus to laguardia which they cancelled. >> then we were told we'll be on the bus. then never mind, you're not going to be on the bus. we have to fly you back to charlotte. and if we don't, your bags are going to charlotte. so you're in a situation, well, we're going to charlotte. >> they ended up right back where they started. >> i'm steamed. very frustrated. what are you going to do? >> they've got to get home to new york. but tom horn's family from greenville. >> they said they'd refund our money and we're going to come back when it's warmer weather and we don't have to deal with the snow. >> we're going to go shopping tomorrow. >> diana ross for nbc news. >> hence the song "there's no place like home for the holidays". >> what up with that? >>> some good news for the folks who have been batwatching the rr over the northeast. things are drying out. we're keeping an eye over tuesday as we had some b

. >> travelers spend the night on cots at laguardia airport pirie tibet >> they are not comfortable. i was cold light. >> the ripple affect has affected people across the country had been planted. most of the travelers in new york are facing another night in the terminal. the court authorities say that the afternoon opening is just a symbolic adjuster. >> they tried to cancel all flights out today. in hopes they can get back to normal schedule tomorrow morning. >> blizzard also stopped in traffic in its tracks. buses could not get any traction even on foot. it proved to be a challenge prepared >> it was rough, they did not do a good job plying. >> well the storm has ended the blowing snow continues. there you see land rigs out just off the coast of boston. still some strong winds and that is playing a round of the it area. 20 in. in central park. 19 in. in boston and if it is no end philadelphia. it is still blowing around. in the bay area and used it a storage drawer for there is our next door. it is dropping of the northwest. it is one to bring us a considerable punch with heavy ra

. >> reporter: at laguardia airport disgruntled travelers slept on cots. >> it was uncomfortable. >> reporter: at jfk one passenger says the restaurants are running out of food. >> as the hunger starts to build you will find people getting more testy. >> reporter: problems also extends to rail and road travel. amtrak canceled circa sunday and resumed limited service monday while roads continue to be a problem from virginia to massachusetts. the ripple effect is stretching across the atlantic. in washington, i am nicole collins. >>> if you want to get a feel for how fast that snow piled up, take a look at these pictures from new jersey. he placed his camera on the picnic table and took a picture every five minutes. in some parts of new jersey people woke up to almost 30 inches of fresh snow. >>> you can stay updated on holiday travel conditions. click the tab on our homepage at ktvu.com. >>> officials in marin county are watching saturated hillsides, and bracing for possible mudslides. they surveyed unstable earth where houses are built on the hillside. bulldozers and other heavy equi

laguardia is still openby jfk and newark were closed at last check. they weren't supposed to open until 4:00 but now we understand that that might be 6:00. runways are not a problem now. crews paid so much attention to the runways back east that they forgot to clear the roads. that's one reason why people were -- flights were delayed because people can't get to the airport. we'll have more on the news at 5:00. reporting live from sfo, kraig debro, ktvu channel 2 news. >>> thank you. and you can find all of the latest weather conditions right now with our weather tracker that's at ktvu.com. >>> police have released the name of a prime suspect in last week's fatal shooting of a pittsburg man. police say he's wanted for the death of 24-year-old arnold m uckleroy. muckledy roy was found fatally wounded in antioch. authority say the suspect is -- suspect is known to frequent the bay area and sacramento. anyone on information about his whereabouts is asked to contact the authorities. >>> still ahead -- how you can dispose of your christmas tree in an enviro

in fact, some flights did take off this morning for jfk, laguardia and newark.hey're leaving out of here late. if you need to come to the airport, be prepared. there are some very long lines at the ticket counter. this is a continental airlines counter at passengers arrived hope to catch a flight out to newark at 11:25 this morning. the latest word on that flight is that it has been delayed a couple hours but people are hopeful many of these travels have been stuck days due to those snowstorm and airport closures back east. it is a hopeful sign because you see not as many cancellations today. little by little flights back east are taking off. they're leaving late but they are getting out of here. but it has been a long and tough couple of days here for a lot of stranded people. and some this morning are hopeful. others are still worried. >> on time, on time, on time until 15 minutes before departure when they say cancelled without any explanation and saying the next flight would be january 1st. >> i feel we're in a better situation since we had this flight confi

we are in laguardia in new york, and this place was a mess yesterday.o three-hour delays because of the winter storm that came through and we had heavy rain and gusty winds and today, smoother out of laguardia. i checked the boards inside, and generally, we are smooth-sailing. you may have delays as you mentioned, contessa, to places like chicago or cleveland or columbus, where we are dealing with the wintry weather and windy weather at this point, so check it out with your air carrier, if you are traveling to those locations and pack some patience as well. if you areful tare traveling by there are issues from boston, massachusetts to, portland, maine, because we have rain there, but the interstates through lake ontario and the ohio turnpike, and i-70 from pittsburgh to columbus to indianapol indianapolis, and the roads will be snow-covered. and contessa, people of the northeast have been spoiled by the mild temperature, and guess what is in the forecast for them? you got it, snow later today. >> well, it is beginning to -- >> well, a little bit. >> beg

boston, philadelphia, and new york's three main airports, including jfk, laguardia, and newark, they are all up and running again. the problem is those from the canceled flights. at this time of year, the airplanes are fully booked, and this could take warmer weather is forecast for the note rest of the week. -- and this could take weeks. warmer weather is forecast for the rest of the week. bbc news, washington. >> the russian president has ordered prosecutors to investigate two international airports after fights broke out among passengers who were stranded when bad weather forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights. travelers were seen trying to beat of staff at one airport, and passengers at another stormed airport control. >> a modern transport help. thousands of people desperate to get away for new year holidays, swarming. the chaos started when ice brought down power lines. the lines had been repaired, emergency generators brought in, but the passenger backlog has not gone away. airline staff seem to have disappeared. >> people are really desperate. there are fights. there

the bad weather meant long flight delays and cancellations at new york's laguardia airport. >> there's no need to get frustrated about it because if they're not going, they're not going. >> reporter: strong winds rustled the big branches of 30 rock's christmas tree and sent hats flying in the nation's capital on the first day of hanukkah. and it's the sounds of the season in the great lakes. snow shovels and snowplows rumbling into action from duluth, minnesota, to rochester, new york. kurt gregory, nbc news. >>> now here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. a new jersey store clerk came out swinging his machete against three armed men. the suspects stormed in. one managed to clean out the register, but the power struggle quickly shifted. the clerk took the upper hand and beat the men out of the store. police are still looking for the men. >>> there's a lot of banter in one alaska barber shop after an suv plowed through the store, stopping dangerously close to seated customers. police say the driver of the suv was pulling into a parking space when his foot slip

at new york's laguardia airport, hundreds of passengers are just waiting to get on a plane. >> found out that now they rescheduled my 6:00 -- 6 a.m. flight that was supposed to leave this morning for thursday. >> take it one day at a time. pretend like it's some expedition like we are going on a camping trip. >> as if that's not bad enough, some passengers are facing a different nightmare. at least three flights at kennedy airport were stuck on the tarmac up to 10 hours. that's because all the gates were being used at the time. >>> and as if those delays weren't bad enough how about those travelers? they are going to have to pay even more the next time they fly. several carriers including united, delta, american and continental, are raising fares on domestic flights by $10 each way. the increase comes as fuel prices shoot up again. it takes effect immediately. >>> how much is that dog in the window? [ barking ] >> the answer may surprise you. the big incentive to give these abandoned pets a good home. >>> and winds continue to whip outside. take a look at this shot at the ocean beach

for the fourth year in a row, new york's laguardia ranked the worst for significant delays, heavy congestionnd few amenities. >>> and jewelry from a royal love affair has broken the record for the most expensive bracelet ever sold at auction. the diamond and onyx panther piece went for a whooping $7 million. it once belonged to the american woman whose relationship with king edward viii led him to advocate the throne. >> and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day -- the dow opens at 11,006 after falling 46 points yesterday. the s&p shed 7 points. the nasdaq lost 26. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei added 51 pounds while in hong kong the hang seng rose 241. >>> a mixed day on wall street tuesday suddenly darkened late in the session, and those storm clouds loomed large over today's opening. minutes before markets closed, standard & poor's warned portugal's credit rating might be downgraded, expecting the country to join ireland looking for a multibillion dollar bailout. that set off high volume selling investors fear could resume

. >> all of the airports are now reopens, a philadelphia, boston, and the airports in new york, laguardia, jfk, but just because the airports have reopened, that does not mean that the backlog of passengers goes away. it is estimated that something like 7000 flights across all of the airports in the northeastern united states were canceled in the last couple of days. that means an awful lot of people waiting around to be rebooked. of course come at this time of year, many are already at capacity -- of course, at this time of year, many are already at capacity. it is very, very difficult, and we are hearing that it could take into next week before some of those people are sent on their way. >> no stranger to this kind of weather, were the authorities prepared this time? >> i think, generally, in this part of the world, they are reasonably well prepared for extreme weather. only last year in washington, d.c., we saw extremely heavy snowfall that lasted for a number of days. it came to be known as "snow- meggedon." but what they could not deal with was so much snow falling in such a short pe

at laguardia we have three plants, and with no gates to park. our staff spent several hours trying to find dates, finding every airline authority had to make sure we of a put a plane in the gate. once again taking on responsibility that generally belongs to the airline. >> one person said the finger-pointing will help anyone stop on a plan for hours. >> it's something we should be embarrassed about in the u.s., that we don't have contingency plans at the airports. at the airports were not required have contingency plans in our rule. it that's a mistake. >> so much all across the nation and kimberly sakamoto joining us now with an interactive on my map to show you just how much snow fell where. >> this is whether the.com you concedcan see, the west coat the different snowflakes this one is southeast of alpine meadows 9 in. of snow since saturday night. meanwhile, the mid coast and i suppose that's where the snow is falling. you could see right here this is land growth and more vermont. 21 in. of snow fell over there. curette connecticut 14 in. of

at jfk and laguardia the skies may be clear in but planes and passengers are stuck on the ground. also stop, the residents of new jersey were 30 in. of snow may digging out a workout. >> instead of exercising his novels show yesterday.i shovelet to go to the jimmy should shovel snow. >> what the premier ski resorts and made some folks found themselves stuck and the worst places, the malfunctioning ski lift. >> how big of an ended stopped. two seconds later everybody looked up and they saw of proof of powder i haven't heard people screaming. >> more favorable weather conditions moving in. in washington some at the hays kron 4 news. >> our on-air coverage to travel troubles continue on my good a www.kron4.com for likes to reformation of flight delays and cancellations. the controversy surrounding this man's retirement. a 57 year-old cat steps down as santa clara county fire chief this week. critics call double dip pay. he is staying on line to consult on a new chief it will get a consulting fee equal to its current pay. $113 per hour. he will draw $200,000 your pension as well. coun

. >> smith: michelle miller at laguardia tonight, thank you. in maine, officials at the sugarloaf ski resort said today they had problems with the chair -lift before today's accident. workers had been trying to fix a cable that was out of place when the lift derailed. some plummeted 30 feet to the slope. high winds also played a role in the mishap. in jackson hole, wyoming, an american airlines jet skidded off a snowy runway this afternoon. the 757 had just flown in from chicago. none of the 181 passengers or crew were hurt. the plane was not damaged. in suburban detroit, an apparent natural gas explosion destroyed a furniture store. the storeo owner is hospitalized tonight in critical condition. if you spend a lot of time behind the wheel, you can't help but notice it-- gas prices are going straight up, up 20 cents in just past month. so how high will they go? here's senior business correspondent, anthony mason. >> reporter: sticker shock is back at your local gas station. >> it's insane. >> it's expensive. >> reporter: as the global economy h

sfo, more than 50 flights have been canceled. 35 arriving and 18 departing from boston's jfk and laguardiaand newark and philadelphia. right now, air carriers are evaluating whether the late afternoon and evening flights will also get canceled. and also this morning, fog at sfo diverted several arriving southwest and united flights. they landed instead in san jose, oakland, or monterey. and the airport duty manager reports that the current one to two-hour delays could rise to three hours later today. and a big backup from the combination of east coast snow and san francisco fog and low visibility in southern california. patience, the key to surviving air travel today. >> passengers are scrambling to find another flight out. julie seemour and her husband are still hoping to mark a milestone on a six-day vacation to the big apple. >> an anniversary trip. we're just trying to figure it out and see if we can find an alternate way to get there. >> reporter: sandra will have to stay two more days before returning to her new york baker's job. >> it is a lot warmer. it is not horrible. it is not t

. >> i had a flight to laguardia two days ago, then i had another flight yesterday, and then a flight this morning to white plains that got cancelled. >> ifill: ...and as far west as southern california. at los angeles international airport, the line at the continental counter went hundreds of people deep. >> there's an eight- to ten-hour wait to get to an agent. the ticketing agent then tells you can't fly out till january 1st or 2nd. >> ifill: adding to the frustration, some airline web sites went down even as phone systems were overrun with callers. >> thank you for calling continental airlines. we're unable to take your call right now. >> ifill: the troubles at airports spilled over to ground travel, especially in new york city, where cars and buses were buried. >> in the past, we've had help from airports with equipment. but not this time. the airports are still digging out. when the airports finish digging out, we would expect that some of the equipment that's being used there will be made available to us to work on the streets. >> ifill: but that could be a while, both for the

. >> this is the reason, rough weather has several airlines cancelling flights at airports like laguardia, new york no flights in or out of the airport. >> dozens of flights are canceled here in the bay area. almost everyone looking to the east coast is grounded. reggie kumar is said sfo with how the cancellations have impacted present troops. >> canceled due to weather, that's the message. delta, united, american, a jet blew have all grounded flights headed for northeastern part of the country because of a powerful winter storm. passengers are urged to call their airline carrier before coming to the airport. >> many flights canceled. it seems a generally they're able to contact the passengers at a time. so we don't have a lot of people that to spend the night. they're getting for warning. >> there's hardly any waiver be been needed to >> to an agent, a looks as though passengers called ahead to find out the flight was canceled. this man is fluent his banesto trying to broker a fight for last eight hours. both fights he is scheduled to take off on or grounded. he's hoping to get a flight

flight delays into laguardia and should have flight arrival delays here into sfo.e're tracking it all with our flight tracker. you can too at abc7news.com. eric? >> oh, the horror. 55 degrees. mike, thank you very much. 4:48 now. tonight's berkeley city council will consider a resolution giving hero status to an army private suspected it have supplying wikileaks with classified government documents. the city's peace and justice committee approved a resolution last month. the committee is made up of residents appointed by council members in their district. the measure honors u.s. army private bradley manning. >> wild rescue saved another seagull from a beer can collar. they cut a beer can off the gull. they examined the birds afterwards and set it free. five gulls have been spotted since september from half moon bay to september. another gull was caught last month. there's a $6,000 reward leading to the person abusing the birds. >> bay area animal shelters are breaking the holiday tradition. generally they discourage people from giving pets as gifts this time of yea

. >> and passengers on the first flight to land at laguardia here in new york, say applause broke out. emily schmidt is tracking t aftermath from washington. >> reporter: rob and mike, good morning to you. here's one sign of the blizzard's strength. it forced the nfl to play a sunday game on a tuesday night, for the first time in nearly 60 years. this is a storm that threw the entire east coast off schedule. the snow is no longer falling. but its problems continue to pile up. >> trying to shovel out of this snowstorm. of 2010. >> reporter: people from north carolina to maine, are digging out from up to three feet of snow. south of boston, the storm swelled the ocean, causing flooding and fires. new york city has seen only five worst storms since it started keeping records, nearly 150 years ago. >> some of the streets would be cleared. some of the side streets. when i came out here, i realized how bad it was. >> reporter: snow to fell two to three inches an hour, trapping more than 500 subway passengers. >> i know. no heat. no nothing. >> reporter: new york's three airports opened last

. >> reporter: at new york's laguardia airport stranded passengers could do nothing but watch as plows worked late into the day to clear off more than a foot of snow. tonya was hit the back to bozeman, montana with her dog charlie. but they've been stuck here for the last 24 hours. she was among the 250 people who tested out overnight on cots, chairs, even the marble floor. >> just make peace with it. all right, i'm stuck here for at least 24 hours. okay. >> reporter: so how many nights have you been stranded? >> four nights in total. >> reporter: passengers on el al flight 002 to tel aviv thought they were going to escape the winter blitz. but their plane never made it off the tarmac at jfk airport. they were stuck on the runway for nearly nine hours. >> well, they gave us dinner and entertainment. fortunately, i have nothing to complain about. >> reporter: it was a different story for passengers trying to leave kennedy by subway. >> we're not going nowhere. on a train with no heat. >> reporter: susan spent the night on the train, describing conditions in a phone call to wcbs-tv. >> w

passengers at o'hare and laguardia were greeted by white times of more than an hour to get through security, but most kept their christmas cheer. >> it's been a joyful experience so far and that's actually surprising. >> reporter: well, christmas day isn't traditionally a busy travel day, but this big storm could still be dumping snow in the northeast, as you heard, sunday into monday, and that could mean trouble for millions trying to get home. anthony? >> mason: don teague at dallas/fort worth airport. thanks. and then there's that other holiday rush-- the stampede for last-minute gifts. the stores were ready, many were open round-the-clock the past few days, but time is just about up. elaine quijano is in new york's times square tonight. elaine? >> reporter: good evening, anthony, for those shoppers still racing around stores tonight, the finish line is almost here. and this holiday season looks like retailers are turning out to be the big winners. in the home stretch of holiday shopping, the strategies are all the same. >> everybody's coming in and just grabbing whatever it is that they

. >>> you're looking at some live pictures there first of laguardia, there at george washington bridgeraveler doesn't want to see. >> no kidding. >> you see the flurries coming down there. you see the starting to stick. >> luckily we're a lot better here than in the midwest. it's brutal in the middle of the country. >> minneapolis, we're sorry. >> that's rough. >>> speaking of travel, this has certainly not been a good year to take an ocean cruise. luxury liner in the mediterranean that was battered by hurricane-force winds and 30-foot waves. >> now as the passengers are returning to port we're hearing about a very perilous journey to say the least. here's linsey davis. >> reporter: first, a stomach-churning ride. now rage is swelling inside the ship. after this uproar, royal caribbean announced passengers would get a full refund. the ship was off the coast of egypt when it was slammed by 30-foot waves and more than 60-mile-per-hour winds. glass was shattered, furniture toppled, and the ship's 20-foot christmas tree came tumbling down. at least 30 passengers were injured. >> for a spli

at laguardia today, the wait was five long hours. >> tried to get onto the 6:00 flight but that flight is 100% full and i can't put myself on the wait list. >> reporter: forecasters expect the rain to continue as the temperatures drop, making this an ugly winter storm. steve osunsami, abc news, beaufort, georgia. >> really messy night out there. >>> and, a fight is going on in classrooms across the country, about to spill over into congress. the debate? what to do about childhood obesity. it is reaching the level of how many doughnuts for how many birthdays. so, who should get a say in what children eat? the house is set to vote on a child nutrition bill that could change cafeterias across the country. but as sharyn alfonsi reports, plenty of schools are already stepping in. >> reporter: mystery meat is getting a makeover. if the bill passes, everything sold on school grounds from school lunches to vending machines has to meet a new higher nutritional standard. pediatricians say it can't happen soon enough. >> never before has there been a generation that's been so heavy from so early

leading us off tonight, sharyn alfonsi from laguardia here in new york. sharyn? >> reporter: david, this is probably the story of the storm. passengers arrive at jfk, but they're not allowed off the plane. they're told they have to spend the night on the tarmac. they thought they were the lucky ones. their planes landed in snowy new york last night. but the hundreds on board soon learned they had to stay on board all night. >> they only had juice, water and cookies. >> reporter: passengers on four separate international flights were told they couldn't disembark because customs at jfk wasn't staffed. this is video shot from one plane stranded on the tarmac for more than nine long hours. and then -- >> took us one hour to go through the customs and two hours to get our luggages. >> reporter: still, others can only dream of seeing the inside of a plane today. more than 6,000 flights canceled. tens of thousands of passengers camping out in airports, trying to get rebooked. >> please hold, and your call will be answered in the order it was received. >> reporter: airli

. >>> delayv for air travelers throughout the day delays from the local airports to laguardia and newark were up to 50 minutes. best advice is always check with your airline before you head out to the airport. >>> overnight dusting of snow caused early morning problems on the beltway. a car spun out and hit a guardrail. another car spun out on the inner loop near colesville road. >> they are not real bad as long as people drive considering you've got snow on the ground and it is freezing cold. so any snow build up is going to be icy. but i mean it is not unpassable. i have driven in a whole lot worse. >>> a light layer of snow covered many cars and side streets for our early morning commute. >>> montgomery county unveiled a new online tool today that allows snowbound residents to track the progress of county plows coming out to dig them out and since we had a little snow today scott broom is live with the news. >> right here on my laptop. what was the worst thing last year about being snowed in you didn't know when the plow was coming in. the county could give you the answer you wanted.