a coyote was spotted on lake michigan by hyde park. skycam nine saw the coyote out on the frozen lake off 59th street -- at least a half mile from shore -- walking *away from land. a chicago police department helicopter tried steering the coyote toward the shore. but - eventually the pilot had to leave to refuel. the fire department responded with equipment and an ambulance close to the scene -- just in case. no update on whether the coyote made it to shore. that was amazing. pulling out you could see how far out they were. >> they knew that was a coyote with a defdeath wish. >> let's hope it's ok. keep your pets comfortable today. let's take a look. today the winter weather advisory remains in effect until noon. most areas have seen between two-3 in. of snow. we're expecting as much, our way. the snow will not let up until after lunch. it will clear around noon and will probably clear the whole region by 2:00 p.m.. this is a huge storm. it's basically crippling much of the u.s.. more than half the country has some form of snow. this af

how well you can see through the driving snow here, but this frozen tundra behind me, this is lake michigant freezes up like this, shipping locks up as well. so the nation depends on the ice breakers with the u.s. coast guard. with ice on the great lakes nearing record levels, the crew of the ice breaker biscayne bay finds the call of duty as far south as chicago for the first time in their careers with the coast guard. you can see it from the satellites. the great lakes are nearly 80% frozen. >> usually the normal tugs can handle the ice. this year it's getting a little too thick for them, so the coast guard had to bring an ice breaker down to help. >> reporter: ice is broken by the weight of the cutter, from air bubbled out of the hull. even the wake is often enough to create a shipping lane. what we're into now is called wind roads. this is where the wind has driven the ice to stack up on itself. it's thick. the big ships can't get through this stuff, and this is what they need the coast guard to come out here and break. when it gets thick like this, all the ice breaker can do is ram the

we have some snow on the flip side of lake michigan. later this weekend there will be accumulating snow coming our way. today at 5:00 p.m. it's 11 degrees. - 3 tomorrow morning. sonny for the next few days but thursday high temperature of only eight degrees above zero with snow showers likely for much of the weekend. >> temperatures are on the roots out there. so were main work is impacting a good stretch of california from 24-26. the detour there is 26 to western and then to 31. that will be in place for some time. other than that, pretty good on the roads. travel times look good but we will see what happened as these temperatures continued to drop. >>two cousins are missing from the west englewood neighborhood. eleven month old morgan melchor and 16 year old dominique jackson were last seen yesterday afternoon, around the 19-hundred block of west 67-th street. the baby was wearing the same white winter hat that you see in this picture. police say jackson may have the baby in a gray stroller and car seat that has "minnie mouse" on it.

huge chumpings of ice, usher take as closer look at the impact from a frozen lake michigan. >> it's been a busy season for the crew. >> let's get off the entrance and take a look. >> for commanding officer and his crew, it is normally search and rescue. >> typically we are up north in the straits. northern lake michigan, northern lake your ron. >> but this year's primary task is breaking through massive ice formations to help keep commercial traffic flowing. this satellitism imagine from an orbennic administration shows just how encompass it is ice cover is this year. more than 80% are frozen. >> they have been forced to expand their ice breaking operations to keep whereupon the demands from this winter's extreme temperatures. >> prison boll la says it has shifted south to deep with the massive sheets of ice, and have come two to three feet thick. >> that's not typical. usually the local tugs can handle it throughout the winter, and they don't need an ice breaker. >> but tug boat operators say they require more tug boats and extra time to break through the ice. that means higher prices a

lake michigan will have a new york fish this weekend. hash tag swim me fallon.e jokes he will be wearing a suit and a tie. the layor responding saying he should leave the suit at home he posted this photo with the caption, hey jimmy fallon, i have this for you. the plunge raises money for the special olympics. >> this is captain chris pika holding up a huge 18 pound fish caught in california. >> chris eventually releasingits back into the water. that thing was massive. >>> coming up our best friends told us about this waiting months and months for the back lagg logged claims at the va. the government figured out a despicable way to speed things up. it involves actually destroying documents. >>> she has one oscar on herschel of and could win another one this weekend. what jennifer lawrence wants to do next. aflac. ♪ aflac, aflac, afc! ♪ [ both sigh ] ♪ ugh! ♪ you told me he was good, dude. yeah he stinks at golf. but he was great at getting my claim paid fast. how fast? mine got paid in 4 days. wow. that's awesome. is that legal? big fat no. [ male announcer ] fi

keep a skeleton crew on, so it really is an impact on us. >> reporter: at the great lakes research lab in ann arbor, michigan it normally covers 323%, in the last time it covered this much was 23 years ago. >> we have the arctic vortex in january. >> it maintains levels and lake affect snow. and it could be a boom for the commercial fishing industry. the increase protects spawning beds, but should the frigid temperatures continue, it could mean a busier few months of ice breaking to come. aljazeera, chicago. >> well, this year, there's much more ice than the past five years, but it's not as bad as the record set in 1979, when almost 95% of the lakes were frozen ifism. >> at the center of an international dispute. the small piece of land that has japan and south korea involved. >> and the astroid that made a very close encounter with earth. ♪ what is this place? where are we? this is where we bring together the fastest internet and the best in entertainment. we call it the x1 entertainment operating system. it looks like the future! we must have encountered a temporal vortex. further analytics are necessary.

firefighters rescue a teenage girl from the ice on lake michigan. and another cold start to the work-week. what you can expect, ahead in a *live report. good morning. i'm dan ponce. and i'm erin mcelroy. thanks for joining us on the wgn morning news at *4 a-m. demetrius ivory has a check of our weather. >> morning. yesterday we were in the upper teens. i don't know about you but it did not feel as bad. we will see temperatures warm up later. typical height is in the mid-30s. we have not even been above freezing since the end of january. a few weeks we have been below freezing. ample sunshine today. it will not want us up much. we will be below the average. average is 34. it will feel like - 5--15. windchill already an issue this morning. advisory is in effect until 11:00 a.m.. current temperature is 0. -17 in aurora. -22 in rochelle. -30 in morris. satellite remark composite, to not worry about the scope. our chance of snow doesn't come until wednesday. we are down to eight degrees today. 9:00 p.m. we're three degrees. the high is only 10. typical l

. >> and demetrius is checking at the ice on lake michigan to tell us how brittle this winter weather is going to impact our it appears, there was no foul play in the deaths of two americans aboard a famous container ship in the indian ocean. the bodies of jeffrey reynolds and mark kennedy were found last week aboard the maersk alabama... known as the "captain phillips" ship. autopsy results say, both men suffered respiratory failure, and both may have had heart attacks. further investigation will determine whether *drugs contributed to their deaths. at least five children in california are paralyzed from a mysterious illness. doctors say the symptoms are similar to polio. since 2012 children have. to have problems breathing and had signed up as much within days they lost movement of a leg or arm. none of those paralyzed have regained use of their limbs. all have refused polio vaccinations. doctors are continuing to investigate. several have tested positive for a very rare virus this similar to polio. >>the governor of ohio has awarded medals of courage to three women who were held ca

lake effect clouds and snow are on the flip side of lake michigan. but the chance of snow tonight is light snow. more snow saturday and then as the heavier snow comes it will be sunday. two years to the mid-20s. tonight we go down to 17. snow showers develop saturday the snow continues into sunday. >> your main roads are still nice unclear but we do have street closures to tell you about. overnight fire near 126 and 159. heavy smoke coming out of that home. they still have closures on 126. both leans down to one lane through that stretch. we are hearing that 59 is open. watch for traffic tieups there in plainfield. but the rest of the road so far so good. one woman is dead and her daughter is critically injured after a shooting inside a home on chicago's southwest side. nancy loo is *live at stroger hospital with more. >> according to police, the deadly shooting was instigated by a fight between the 25 year- old daughter and her boyfriend who is now a wanted man. the woman is in critical condition here where her mother was pronounced dead this mornin

no wonder this wily coyote today preferred lake michigan to michigan avenue., the weather may be causing another, potentially even more serious shortage, scott. the red cross says blood donations were down 10% in january with some 770 blood drives canceled in 27 states. >> pelley: we'll check with you again tomorrow, dean, thanks very much. >> the airlines canceled more than 1500 flights today. that brings the total for the past two days to more than 3600. mark strassman went to the delta airlines operations center in atlanta. >> we'll just monitor it here through the tarmac situation. >> reporter: the man at the center of coordinating and controlling delta's 4800 daily flights is dave holtz. he leads the 270 employees in this room trying to get ahead of three storms. lawyer >> you have to have an airplane. you have to have a flight attendant crew. you have to have a pilot crew. those are three separate resources you have to put together. there's always that movement of crews and resources within the hub that we have to manage. so there's a lot of juggling tha

mike is live on lake michigan. >> well, goes without saying that it's been an unusually rough winter,ally given everything you see behind me. just like the roadways, when the weather locks up the shipping lanes on the great lakes commerce locked up as well so the nation depends on the ice breakers with the u.s. coast guard. with ice on the great lakes nearing record levels, the crew of the ice breaker biscayn ebay finds themselves close to chicago. you can see it from the satellites. great lakes are nearly 80% frozen. usually the normal tugs can handle the ice but this year it's getting a little too thick for them so the coast grd had to bring in an ice breaker to help. >> ice is broken from the weight of the cutter. even the wake is enough to cause a shipping lane. >> we're into now is windrows. the wind has driven the ice to stack up on itself. it's thick. the big ships can't get through this stuff and this is what they need the coast guard out here to break. when it gets thick like this, all the ice breaker can do is ram the ice, back up, ram it again until they carve a path. >> so

some of it several feet thick. 66% of lake michigan is covered in ice. some of it is several feet thick. >>taking a look at the *other top stories this morning. a suspect is in custody in a botched armed robbery, captured on security video. three teens confronted an off- duty cook county sheriff's sergeant monday at a far south side gas station. one of them pointed a gun. the sergeant drew his own weapon and killed the gunman, 16-year-old deonta mackey. the two others ran away... but a 17-year-old turned himself in, after seeing the surveillance video on t-v. police are still looking for the shooter in the murder of a store clerk. kenneth bardlett is being held on bond for first degree murder. prosecutors say he admitted to trying to rob a convenience store in bensenville last month. but they he did not fire the gun that killed the clerk, hussein saghir. prosecutors say bardlett was on parole for a weapons charge. no details about the shooter were released. a counselor accused of having sex with a teenage girl could face more charges. prosecutors say kel

the coast guard is trying to maintain shipping lanes on lake michigan, a route that officials say isr commerce. so mike tobin has been out, and i saw a piece you did earlier in the driving snow. what work they have to do there. >> reporter: still driving snow. what looks like it might as well be polar bear habitat. that's lake michigan, and the rare event it freezes over, shipping lanes freeze up and the nations depends on the icebreakers with the u.s. coast guard. >> with ice on the great lakes nearing record levels -- >> 25 feet. >> roger. >> -- the crew of the ice brake -- icebreaker, best -- the great lakes are almost entirely frozen. >> usually the normal plugs can handle the ice but this year it's too think so the coast guard had to bring an icebreaker down to help. >> ice is broken by the ware over the cutter, even the wake is often enough to create a shipping lane. >> what we're into now is called wind rows where the wind has driven the ice to stack up. it's thick and the ships can't get through and it that's why they need the coast guard to break. when it gets thick like thi

as we look north that all of the place there. 52 percent of lake michigan is covered by ice for now. great lakes are covered by ice. the heart of it is moving to the mid-atlantic. these of the latest numbers. 6.9 in. at midway. we will probably add to that. about a 6 in. seven and snow. 62.4. this all started back on december 30th. the long-term average is 18 days. 13 in. of snow that we have on the ground. 30th day with snow fall on the ground. the wind is still gusting. there blowing and drifting snow around. the organize snowfall is winding down. >> visibility is coming up a great deal. 7 mi. at lansing. there were down as low as fractions of a mile. wind gusts has passed 30 in the city. other wind gust and romeoville. what about conditions at times this morning with all of this blowing and drifting. you can see the trend. the improvement in the weather. >> here is the view from kankakee. showing how widespread the snow has been. the models they just like the fact flurries going into parts of indiana. once the winter storm warnings come down to the east of us the big story will be

you run into lake michigan, like, this sunday.lake michigan and i'm going to jump in with the mayor. and it is freezing in chicago right now. >> steve: 20 degrees right now. >> jimmy: it's 20 degrees, yeah. it's 20 degrees in chicago right now? i think it's going to snow this weekend. it is going to be colder? >> steve: yeah, probably negative 16. [ laughter ] >> jimmy: but i'm a man of my word. i'm a man of my tweets, so i'm going to do it this sunday. i'll be there -- [ cheers and applause ] -- 9:30 in the morning, 10:00 in the morning. >> steve: 10:00? >> jimmy: 10:00 in the morning. >> steve: okay. >> jimmy: much better than 9:30. >> steve: i thought you said 9:30. >> jimmy: 10:00 in the morning, i'm going to go with the mayor and all the people from chicago. it's for a great cause -- the special olympics. they're raising money. [ applause ] so if you are in chicago or around chicago, i think it is $150 or something like that to register to go -- i don't know why -- jump into this lake. i mena, you can also just donate money t

if you like behind me, lake michigan might as well be a polar bear habitat.n the lake but it's a rare and brutal winter. as the lake freezes over so does the shipping lines. to keep the nation moving it depends on the ice breaksers of coast guard. with ice opt great lakes nearing record levels. >> 25 feet. >> roger. >> the crew of the icebreaker, biscayne bay, finds the call of duty as far south as chicago for the first time in their careers with the coast guard. you can see it from the satellites. the great lakes are frozen. >> usually the normal tugs can handle the ice. this year it's a little too thick for them. so the coast guard had to bring in an icebreaker to help. >> ice is broken by the weight of cutter, from air bubbled out of the hull. even the wake is often enough to create a shipping lane. what we're into is wind rows. this is where the wind driven ice to stack up on itself. it is thick. the big ships can't get through this stuff. this is what they need the coast guard to come out here and break. when it gets thick, all the icebreaker can do is r

. >> every year the unger family spent their vacation on lake michigan in a place called watervale. >> it's a sanctuary for them where they can go to forget about the rest of the world and reconnect with themselves and their families and the loved ones. >> florence worked as a bank loan officer. her husband mark, a mortgage broker, was also a well known radio personality. >> mark unger had a sports radio show and was somewhat of a celebrity in a circle of friends. >> their vacation in 2003 was like most others. the ungers had checked into their cabin, had dinner, and mark spent time with their two sons while florence was outside for fresh air. >> mark read a story with the boys, kissed them good night, came back out to the deck and florence was not on the deck. >> mark assumed florence went next door to the friends' cabin since the lights were on. not wanting to leave the children alone, mark went to bed. when he awoke just after dawn, florence still wasn't there. >> he called the resort owners approximately 7:30 in the morning asking them if they had seen florence. they said they had

. >> their heroes who willingly venture into the icy waters of lake michigan. we're getting a look at what they go through. caught up with coast guard rescue crews. >> in the extreme cold most victims have just minutes of consciousness. which is why the coast guard holds a ice rescue training drills every day. after the winter we have had this faso far their expertise has been in high demand. >> even when it is just a drill press killing somebody who has fallen through the eyes can be very dangerous. >> anybody can be walking out onto the ice and hit a weak spot. >> members of the coast guard went through their rescue training. highlighting work that they had to do more of this year. >> hit the extreme cold weather has kept a lot of eyes on to the weatheri saw on to the lake.ice on the lake. making >> daily drills like this extremely important and timely. >> when you get that one case, you know how to do they know how to do the rescue. it can be the difference between someone living in not making it. >> the coast guard works alongside a number of agencies. the

look at the eye is on lake michigan.e have this little kid and as clouds blowing in these bitterly cold winds. the big >> a chill will continue the rest of the workweek. >> the month so far running 15.1 degrees. 10 degrees below normal. here is one of the reasons. 64 percent of the country according to the parent agency covered by snow. there's a plot of that snowpack. pretty easy over the reflective small cover. snow cover. >> this is the thing that carries no systems through here with some regularity. windchill advisers and the fact of your uc blue on this map. this includes the fox valley. >> already moving its way across the part of the country. temperatures are colder than they were 24 hours ago. we're down 18 degrees in chicago. champagne is down 22 degrees. the entire metro area is producing temperatures colder than yesterday. not just by a narrow margin. these are way down over 20 degrees colder than we were yesterday at this time. we're back in the throes of cold arctic air. the one thing you'll notice is that t

in case you're contemplating a frigid lake michigan plunged cardiologists say there are a few things to keep in mind. >> for anyone who has diagnosed underlying heart disease is probably not a good idea to partaken in such an activity. for those with a lot of risk factors. patients with hypertension or elevated cholesterol levels. potentially noble family history for coronary artery disease. those are the folks who should be avoiding that type of activity. there is no turning back for jimmy fallon >> the mayor keeping up the friendly chatter. all of this back and forth through social media has generated huge amounts of publicity or the end. no doubt it has the lead the folks with the special olympics o.elated the folks of special net chicago. >> 3 people found dead. >> the fire and police departments remain here at the scene where three people were found dead in a home early this morning. fire crews got the call just after 5:00 this morning. not long after it was clear that this would be a death investigation. >> along the 9800 block of 50 first avenue this morning fire ice and death

and cold morning, 15 so far sub zero has led to ice on the riverways and out here on lake michigan. in detroit, a record, last month 39 inches, more fell today leading to crashes on area highways in the motor city. another storm down south sunday brings more snow and ice in the dallas/ft. worth area, and from the d.c. area to new york city, right now we're looking at one to three inches in philly and new york. then a juicier storm in the midwest on tuesday. a swath of storms from chicago, to kc, and there will be mostly rains for the big city on wednesday, then more cold weather late next week. lester? >> outdoor first cold weather super bowl. what is it going to be like at kickoff in new jersey? >> reporter: lester, after all the worries of maybe a blizzard and icy cold weather, it's going to be balmy. 50 for a high, kickoff temperature at 41. so right now, tulane, super bowl six in new orleans in 1972, will remain the coldest at 39. >> mike seidel, thank you very much. >>> and state officials in california say the historic western drought is not a coming crisis, it's a current cri

from the hudson river to lake michigan waterways are looking more like ice rinks. ice cutters working around the clock for nearly two months. in chicago, record lows and rescue drills. danger on the water and danger on the roads. whiteout conditions in buffalo and lansing, michigan, ice in erie, pennsylvania, led to this 30-car pile-up. the relentless cold causing havoc. the potholes are everywhere, swallowing school buses in new york and snarling traffic in detroit. so how does the winter actually cause the potholes? well, take a road itself. the pavement is just the top layer. below that is a base layer of gravel, and below that is soil. when it rains, water seeps through the pavement. and if it's cold enough, it can freeze and expand. then when it melts, a hole is created between the pavement and the base layer, meaning that when a car drives over the now weakened spot in the pavement, it breaks and a pothole is born. from blown tires to bent wheel rim, aaa says potholes usually cost driver $6.4 billion. this year it expects it to be more. >> i use to be in the

the waves on lake michigan are interacting with these piles of ice along the shoreline which are alsodingly formidable. the sun is out. that is nice. it does not have the same punch that the late february son usually has. it is clear that we are an arctic air. we have to record-breaking low temperatures on the way. you could break in 1963 record tomorrow morning going below 1 below. he could break in 1897 record. it has stood over a century. the subzero temperatures that we are expecting could be the latest subzero temperatures and 12 years. 19 of 24 days have been below normal. we were looking back over the whole winter, roughly seven out of 10 days this winter have been below normal. no wonder we are tired of this. look at the forecast we averaged computer models. in other words the opening week of march. here's a 11-15 days. still way below normal. this pattern is not changing. it has us and low teens. the warmer air to the south. 77 and so then up. 56 at salt lake city at this hour. you're either in this cold air or you aren't. we are about two degrees colder than we were 24 hours

it's so cold in chicago this week, you can walk on lake michigan and that's just what that man did. was first spotted about 300 yards off shore after he finished his walk he was greeted by the police who issued him a vietation. they were worried the ice might give way and he would ball through. >>> for those walking or driving on roads there could be slippery conditions in the east and northern rockies and wet roads in south florida. watch out for mud slides and flash flooding in california. >>> and if you're flying airport delays possible in san francisco, los angeles and salt lake city. >>> a new study this morning tying older dads to children with psychiatric problems. >> researchers say kids born to middle-aged men are more likely to develop autism, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. the risk goes up when the dad is 45 or older. the study was the biggest of its kind involving data from 2.5 million people. >>> dozens of doctors and health care advocates are pushing the fda to stop a powerful new painkiller from going to market. the drug called zohydro is five to ten times more p

there will also be light snow on interstate 94 west of lake michigan.fic northwest, particularly on i-90 and i-5. >>> now, if you're flying, airport delays are possible in atlanta, charlotte, washington, philadelphia, new york, and boston. >>> millions of travellers have been affected by this week's storm. many of them at atlanta's airport. >> devin dwyer is there. he continues our coverage. good morning, devin. >> reporter: hey, good morning, john and marci. no matter where you live in the country today, if you're flying, it's going to be a mess. here at the world's busiest airport in atlanta, hundreds of flights are listed but almost all of them are canceled. at this hour, more than 4300 flight cancellations. nationwide. many of those scrapped preemptively since yesterday. the worst airports atlanta, philly, charlotte, d.c. all the way up into new york. the hardest hit airline is delta. they're based in atlanta. more than 600 cancellations today. the good news, passengers had enough advance warning that many simply decided to stay home. here at the at

. >> from the mississippi river to lake michigan decent health care for everyone. can't have a system as you have in texas where's there's rolls royce coverage for some people and no coverage whatsoever for lots of hard working people. you got to fill the gap. >> why are a thousand people a day moving to the state of texas because it's such a terrible place, van, that's what i want you to tell me, why. >> you can make it even better if you raise the minimum wage and provide health coverage. >> governor perry's relatively direct and quite cheerful about engaging. he just did an ad that i want to share part of it with you that gives you a sense of this engagement because it relates to -- >> opposition's a good thing. >> will you run that for a second? i want to share that with everybody. >> in texas we have conservative leadership. in illinois it's liberal. there's a big difference. 30% of all the jobs created in america in the last decade were in texas. and illinois, last year they were number 48. >> here's the question i want to ask you -- >> we're not 48th in job

sandra: we are live on lake michigan. a lake that i know quite well. dennis: it looks pretty bleak. forget the drive-through, it is all about the mobile app. we will be right back. ♪ so ally bank has a raise your rate cd that wothat's correct.a rate. cause i'm really nervous about getting trapped. why's that? uh, mark? go get help! i have my reasons. look, you don't have to feel trapped with our raise your rate cd. if our rate on ts cd goes up, yours can too. oh that sounds nice. don't feel trapped with the ally raise your rate cd. ally bank. your money needs an ally. they're the days to take care of business.. when possibilities become reality. with centurylink as your trusted partner, our visionary cloud infrastructure and global broadband network free you to focus on what matters. with custom communications solutions and responsive, dedicated support, we constantly evolve to meet your needs. every day of the week. centurylk® your link to what's next. my dad has aor afib.brillation, he has the most common kind... ...it's not caused by a heart valve p

every your brave souls take an icy deck into lake michigadip into lake michigan. the mayor is participating because kids in the summer learning program completed his challenge to read 2 million books last year. he is going to be there because he said he would appear if he took the plunge with him. the mayor had some special shorts made.shirts made. >> it is for the special olympics here in the city of chicago. we'll have a special one of these for him to wear. >> a great cause. last year's event raised close to $800,000. the blackhawks are ready to take on the snowfall. >> bring the cold at soldier field. preparations for the stadium series are under way. >> bless those people who are taking the plunge. the ones were coming to soldier field tomorrow. the place is sold out. they're giving it the finishing touches. these crews have been working around the clock to prepare the ice skating rink. as a concede they are starting to install the plexiglas around the skating rink. the game starts at 7:00 p.m.. they're pretty much finishing appear. it is going to be wild. ap

. >> reporter:in chicago -- a cold, lonely looking coyote on a frozen stretch of lake michigan. at least he was getting around without any big problems. it was the same story in places ranging from oklahoma to new york. >> reporter: millions of people -- digging out of monday's record breaking storm. new york city's central park set a new daily record with 8 inches of snow. and the advice from the mayor - take the subway. >> reporter:for thousands of people heading home from sunday's super bowl.airports were a mess.more than two- thousand flights were canceled because of the storm. >> jacqueline: right now it looks like a lot of the rain will go towards the north bay but we will keep you posted good because it could move down south. stories and images. >> reporter: a tune after the break an you a closer look at paper. [ sports announcer ] here's another one, alyson dudek. hales corners, wisconsin. nice pass by alyson dudek. can she hang on to that spot? and she does! [ male announcer ] with the u-verse wireless receiver, your tv goes where you take it, allowing inspiration to fo

. >> typically we're up north, northern lake michigan, northern lake huron. >> reporter: but this year'sry task is breaking through massive ice formations to help keep commercial transflowing. at this point more than 80% of the five great lakes combined are frozen. >> reporter: u.s. coast-guard cutters like this have been forced to expand their operations to keep up with this year's demand from extreme temperatures. the biscayne bay has had to ship to the chicago area. >> that's unusual. >> reporter: tug boat operators say these conditions require more tug boats and extra time to break through the ice. >> the reduction in business itself dropped our sales anywhere from 35 to 50%, and in turn we had to layoff three-quarters of our work force to keep a skeletal crew on. so it has really impacted us. >> reporter: at the research lab in ann arbor, michigan, scientists monitor the ice daily. the last time the lakes were this frozen was 20 years ago. >> the ice season got started early. we had that arctic vortex in end of december and early january, and the ice just kept building. >> reporter:

chicago right now for example is that is blowing over a minority community on its way to the lake to lake michigan is just it's just at the apparently the koch brothers own i mean maybe they're going to change its purpose but. it's like so we get the poison we're going to ship the stuff down to louisiana we get the poison from refining it and then they export the big gasoline and diesel fuel to china to mexico to to brazil to england and because all those places the cost of gasoline is more expensive than it is here and actually raises the cost of gas here cordie of trans canada it's going to raise the cost of gasoline here. why why doesn't anybody ask the question if the canadians it's so enthusiastic about selling the stuff trans canada is pipelines of canadian companies doing this but if they just refined their own damn oil in their own damn country and keep their own damn poison and we'd be glad to buy their gasoline a diesel fuel. this is the one thing you know when you do these and impact studies you have to look at different scenarios we know that it's that this stuff is going to stay in th

caller: yes, 60 miles further west, almost down the shore of lake michigan. host: near harbor springs? caller: no. host: petoskey? caller: no. right, enough geography. what do you want from washington? i want the idiots to get the thumbs out of their bottoms. host: what does that mean? the republicans have done nothing but obstructive even the most common sense legislation that would benefit both sides. host: such as? caller: i don't know, the farm bill that took them forever. take your pick, you know what i mean? host: is the farm bill important to you? caller: yeah. host: are you a farmer? i am disabled. i have been disabled since 1990, so consequently i have been unable to work since 1990. i imagine i would have starved to death had there been no farm because they're in our the food stamps. or am i wrong? not sure i understand what you're saying. caller: the food stamps are fed through the farm bill. host: they are, but i think they were removed from this particular farm bill. caller: i seem to remember hearing squawks about cutting food stamps from the fa

storm team4 radar showing that coming into southern lake michigan, illinois, iowa, wisconsin. this area of low pressure is going to be getting closer to the metro area not until, though, late tonight. between now and then, we'll have high clouds drifting over us. this is what's been happening, looking down from space over the last couple of hours. a few high clouds drifting in, and just past 11:00 here on this monday, presidents' day, temperatures are still below freezing. in fact, it's only hovering in the upper 20s to around 30 degrees in the metro area. nearby suburbs, prince george's, montgomery, fairfax counties, and alexandria, arlington, the district, around 30 degrees. in the mid-20s farther west and north. cold air is in place. that's one ingredient. we've got the moisture coming our way for some accumulating snow later tonight. i'll show you my forecast for how much we'll get and when it starts and stops, and the warm-up on the way, in a few minutes, barbara. >> thank you, tom. >>> right now, wssc crews are working to fix a broken eight-inch water main in clinten, ma

a student in illinois given a citation for walking on lake michigan.out 300 yards offshore when police found him. so dangerous. finally the ugly. alcoholics in canada get a lesson in brewing. a group teaching them to make beer and wine in an effort to stop them from containing alcohol that are not safe like hand sanitizer. >> it is time for your brew on this responses. >> alabama may soon require classes for parents going through a divorce with young children. it focuses on how the divorce can effect those children. >> can divorcing couples be forced to take classes? >> no mandates. if the class sofrd and -- is offered and they decide to take it, fine. >> jeff says it is the parents should learn how to behave after divorce. >> maybe they should take classes to know what they are in for first. >> thanks to everyone responded. >> have a wonderful thursday. tail end of the week. hang in there, you can make it, folks. >> "fox & friends" starts now. >>> good morning. today is thursday, february 27. i'm elisabeth hasselbeck. what does harry reid think about

. >> lake michigan is about 80% frozen right now. almost a record. all the great lakes got up to 95% frozen. that's how cold the winter was. this winter is not far behind. we are looking at cooler temperatures. you can see the storm system brought a lot of snow across the region. they called some delays. we'll see another storm system in the evening. for tomorrow morning, chicago is going to see 27 degrees there, with minnesota seeing 20. we expect the temperatures to rise on thursday, but with that we'll see rain and back down to the cooler temperatures, a low of 13. up to the north-west. not much changes in terms of all of the rain along the coastal region. what we see is flooding going on, as well as - the avalanche warning. into the cascades. it's because of the snow in the forecast, continuing through wednesday. we don't expect to see much change towards thursday. that is the national weather. the news is next. >> you are looking at live pictures from ukraine, the capital kiev where the sun is rising over the fires that have been burning. 18 kill

making it difficult to navigate lakes and rivers in the region and there is impact from a frozen lake michiganon for the coast guard custer in biscayne bay. and for tom and his crew their mission normally involved search and rescue. >> typically we are up north in the straits of mackinaw and northern lake michigan and huron. >> reporter: but they are breaking through ice formations across the great lakes to keep commercial traffic flowing. the satellite image from the national atmosphere administration shows how encompassing it is this year and 80% is frozen. u.s. cutters are expanding the ice breaking operation to keep up with demands from the winter extreme temperatures. and he says the cutter of biscayne bay is south to deal with sheets of ice that are 2-3 feet thick. >> that is not typical. usually the local tugs can handle chicago through the winter and do not need an actual ice breaker to help. >> reporter: and terry says these conditions require more tug boats and extra time to breakthrough the ice and means higher prices that shipping companies simply don't want to pay. >> reduction in

like affects snow on the flip side of lake michigan. it looks like something that will come from early winter and not mid to late february. 20 is our high tomorrow. chance of light snow showers tonight ahead of tomorrow. wednesday and thursday high temperatures only reaching 10 degrees. that is almost 30 degrees colder than our typical high. as the get into friday we have a high temperature of 18. it does not feel like this late february whether. that's the forecast. >> an elderly man is apparently run over in a road bridge attack. >> and two people are hurt after falling from a mardi gras parade floats. and a camera is rolling as someone makes a surprise appearance. >> and a drinking game but it's gaining popularity with a deadly consequences. for killing a restaurant manager at a mall. it also made 26 other people sick. the carbon monoxide leak happened at a mall on long island, saturday. rescue crews felt the effects of the gas after they responded to a woman who collapsed. a restaurant was evacuated before its manager was found dead

onto the ice on lake michigan. the man walked onto the ice at monroe harbor yesterday afternoon. police and fire crews ordered him to go back onto shore. he made it back safely and was given a citation for violating a city ordinance. pothole damage claims are soaring in chicago. the snow and temperature changes have turned streets into a mine field for your tires and rims. 280 damage claims from potholes were introduced at this month's city council meeting. that's more than any other month in the past four years. the city clerk's office processes damage claims up to two-thousand dollars. drivers need to send in a claim form, a police report, and a repair bill. there is yet another act of revolution in ukraine, just days after the country's president was deposed. within ukraine is an autonomous region called crimea. this morning, protesters seized a government building, and the crimean parliament, and raised a *russian flag over it. the seizure was a protest against the political upheaval in the ukrainian capital of kiev. the temporary government in ukraine has announced a slate o

. >>> the city is considering blocking the canal system there to stop the spread of carp into lake michiganave been displacing native fish. the carp was introduced, but soon made their way up the mississippi river. >>> google bing, and oversights can translate just about any language for free. but there are often mistakes. tanya moseley has more from washington state. >> reporter: as these professional translators will tell you, translating from language to another is not as simple as cut, paste, and click. to illustrate the point, spanish translator katherine german takes us to the washington state government's website. which translates a spanish text into english. >> many of washington companies with success have used skinny cowhand ling strategies. >> reporter: it changed lean practices to skinny cowhand ling. >> very funny to a japanese native speaker. japanese translator -- found all sorts of mistakes. washington state does provide professional translation for some materials, it is one of a number of states that includes a button for translation software on many of its websites. this i

and lake michigan has frozen along the shoreline in chicago. this winter could be the first since 1996 that lake superior has completely frozen over, the entirety of it. the national weather surface report says of monday ice was covering nearly 90% of lake superior. >>> updating breaking news last hour the former new orleans mayor, ray nagin, guilty on corruption and count after count, still waiting for him to come out of court. we will run down the list of lavish bribes he weis selled out of contractors and while his city suffered after hurricane a katri katrina, he is getting a bus ride to prison. much more breaking news coming up on shepherd smith reporting. legs up! legs up? gs up! legs up! legs up! verizon has free tablets and ee phones. get here anyway you can. good job! free tablets. free phones. on the best network. only at verizon. get tablets like the verizon ellipsis 7 free. and when you trade in your old smartphone, you can get the samsung galaxy s4 free. or the droid maxx by motorola free. plus get a data plan with unlimited talk an

meteorologists say because of all the ice on the lakes, the cities around lake michigan could see a cooler summer this year. >>> as millions dig out of the snow and ice, here 24 words that will warm your heart. play ball. pitchers and catchers for several teams, including my beloved detroit tigers, tropt the clarm climates of florida and arizona this weekend. by the end of the week, spring training will be under way for almost every team. and the regular season begins next month. so never clear. spring is on the way. less than 40 days away. hi justin. >>> still to come, the senate approves a bill to raise the nation's debt ceiling bup not without a bit of drama first. our senior white house correspondent jim acosta is on that story. good morning, jim. >> good morning, carol. that's right. the president praises perhaps an end to the politics of brinksmanship as the congress, as the senate passes that debt ceiling bill. i'll have details coming up in just a few minutes. up so we're up early. up late. thinking up game-changing ideas, like this: dozens of tax free zones across new york state.

look at lake michigan. this is the shoreline looking more like the arctic tundra this winter. a shelf of ice stretching for miles and growing each day. meteorologists saying more than half the lake has frozen over. now, as a whole, more than 3/4 of the great lakes are covered with ice and experts predict lake superior will freeze over entirely before this winter is over. extreme weather also battering great britain. in the valley west of london, homes and vehicles being flooded out and now thousands more are at risk as a new storm is going to hit today. it's britain's wettest winter in hundreds of years. soldiers filling sandbags as water swallows up some villages. politicians in fierce debate over how to deal with this huge mess. >> back now to the impact of the president's executive order raising the minimum wage for federal contract workers. for more on this, let's bring in jonah goldberg, editor-at-large of national review online. jonah, no surprise. we knew the president was going to do it. he said pen and paper, elves going to do executive orders to get things done that h

. >> but on september 30th, 2011, high waves on lake michigan pummeled the shoreline raging out of controlg out of the ordinary was happening that morning when i got up. >> eric is surprised to see enormous waves crashing against the shoreline below. he records the scene to show friends and then heads out to investigate. >> waves were coming up 20, 30 feet in the air and crashing out well across the jogging path and right up to the street. >> people are still using the path along the lake. many unaware of the danger just ahead, until it's too late. >> people pressed up against the fence by the path, literally grabbing on as the waves are coming in off the lake. when i saw people from the other side turning around and going back and people wiping out in front of me, i thought, it's not safe. >> across town at the national weather service forecast office, meteorologist mike bardu is monitoring high winds in the area. >> we had several hundred miles of wind coming from the north aiming at this particular point at the shore that was facing almost straight north. >> the "s" curve where the bike

thinking of having a chicago tea party in july all of you capitolists that want to show up in lake michiganme say those words helped launch the tea party movement so. how far, has the tea party come? ann koult yes, how are you? i'd take your hand but i'm sick, so... >> i never shake hands >> okay. mrs. trump. >> neither do you. >> you give me a fist pump >> tea party patriots partners on the radio show, i'm a registered conservative. i think it's going to be stronger than ever. >> two ways are looking at it. people in america v.are fantastic the heart of america. i think they've made a huge difference they did in 2010 elections. in the house, republicans picked up more seats than they did in famous 1994 election. that was a huge win, but we lost a lot of senate seats and unfortunately as with any, any, i think any grass-roots movement there are a lot of conmen and scamsters tricking good americans into sending them money claiming we're fighting for you. they aren't fighting for you. >> people are there in the trenches every day this, is what they do >> one out in america, yeah but a lot of

. >> i will tell you, i grew up on lake michigan i have seen it get icy and big.t is quite dramatic to look at it. in this case, it's a threat to the your community and to others along the river there. right? >> yes, it is. >> that's why it's important that we get the mouth open as soon as possible. >> and there is -- there has been some question in other areas about the water, what's carried in it as the -- as the ice melts. there is some concern that it could pollute water drinking water in some communities. is that a risk for you there? >> no. we haven't had that problem at all no. >> are there other concerns, for example, for what might be carried downstream in this water? >> no more than comes down in any flood. fl flotsom, jetsom, logs, but nothing. >> have you prepared for the possibility after flood? you had some warming over the weekend. i guess that was kind of the early warning on this but as the bigger thaw happens, have you got plans in place for what are you going to do? sandba goode or move forward with flood control? >> well, sand bags really won't