from denver, here's nbc's leanne gregg. >> help the salvation army! >> reporter: merrill fie on this 25-degree day in denver with a request he's made countless times. >> help salvation army right here! >> reporter: now 85, he owned one of colorado's oldest businesses, deep rock water, and began bell-ringing with fellow ceos back in 156. >> it grows on you. i get my heart warmed when people bring up their children. >> merry christmas! >> reporter: for close to 60 years, merrill has never missed a bell-ringing shift because it makes him happy. >> it's just part of me and part of the season. and, you know, people like to see someone that smiles. >> reporter: to attract donors he uses a swiss cow bell. an homage to his family. it was his grandfather's, built in 1896. it's more than the bell that was passed on. >> his grandfather would give bags of groceries anonymously to those in his community that were less fortunate. >> reporter: generations later, in that same spirit of giving, merrill is joined most years by his two daughters and six grandchildren. >

from denver, here's nbc's leanne gregg. >> help the salvation army!reporter: on this 25-degree day denver with a request he's made countless times. >> help salvation army right here! >> reporter: now 85, he owned one of colorado's oldest businesses and began bell-ringing with fellow ceos in 1956. >> it grows on you. i get my heart warmed when people bring up their children. >> merry christmas! >> reporter: for close to 60 years, merrill has never missed a bell-ringing shift because it makes him happy. >> it's just part of me, part of the season. and, you know, people like to see someone that smiles. >> reporter: to attract donors he uses a swiss cow bell. it was his grandfather's from 1896. it was more than the bell that was passed on. >> his grandfather would give bags of groceries anonymously to those in his community that were less fortunate. >> reporter: generations later, in that same spirit of giving, merrill is joined most years by his two daughters and six grandchildren. >> how we doing, brady? >> good. >> reporter: his wife dory, 87, and visu

leanne gregg, nbc news, denver. >> so, veronica, are we going to get any of that? >> we're going to get a little bit of wintery weather come this weekend. so we're monitoring what's coming, the big storm system for us. first we get to enjoy the moild temperatures. we'll save a little bit on the electric bill because we don't have the heat on. after the first 24 hours we have adjustments to make. we have overcast and low overcast today. didn't get much sunshine but not having a major effect on the temperature. we are slightly above average. look at this. the mercury only dropping a few degrees. at 9:00 i'm calling it cool at 51. could be patchy fog around 11:00 p.m. to midnight. and look at the radar here scanning the area. nothing is showing up that's fallg from the sky. there could be a few sprinkles coming our way late this evening around winchester. you can see them there on the west side of i-81. foggy conditions for tomorrow morning. clouds, yes. so not much sunshine and a slight chance for some showers coming our way during the afternoon hours, and most espec

leanne gregg reports how search teams tracked them down. >>. >> reporter: a remarkable rescue. a family of six found, what friends and relatives had parade for. >> i'm relieved that god answered our prayers. they just told me they found them. that's all i wanted to hear. they're alive. >> reporter: james and his girlfriend christina, their two children, along with a niece and nephew, ages 3 to 10 had been missing since sunday. that's when they took a drive to an old mining town near nevada for a day outing. a rugged remote area where temperatures can be more than 15 below. during the drive their jeep rolled off a dirt road. when they failed to return home, the national guard launched helicopters. glanton, a 34-year-old mine worker and hunter built a fire near the jeep where the family took shelter. >> he was putting big rocks in the fire and getting them hot so the heat would come off the rocks and warm up the inside of the jeep. >> on day three a team on foot spotted a hopeful clue. >> we found a bunch of footpr t footprints in the snow from the kids. so we knew we were on the

nbc's leanne gregg has more on the deep freeze. >> reporter: snow and ice bearing down this morning in the northeast, part of a massive system affecting half the country. that same system sunday in wisconsin caused a deadly pileup in whiteout conditions and shut down interstate 94. >> to the best of my knowledge, there is probably in excess of seven semis and 30-plus vehicles. >> it was bad, like you could barely see on the road. >> reporter: ice made driving impossible in parts of kentucky. >> i can deal with snow all day long but when it comes to freezing rain i don't even want to touch it. >> reporter: across the nation, airports canceled 3,000 flights. snow so heavy it caused this roof to collapse. in some areas, temperatures remain as much as 20 degrees below average. with thousands of customers still without power from the storm there's concern tree limbs and lines weighted by ice could cause new outages for several days. in philadelphia, fans braved close to half foot of snow as the eagles took on the lions. >> i'd rather be home with a pot of gravy and a glass of wine. >> repor

and here is more from leanne gregg. >> reporter: an outpouring of love and grief as word spread.er eight days on life support, 17-year-old claire davis died saturday with her family by her side. students and friends gathered at their school to mourn. >> i really felt like i needed to be here. >> it's really not fair that it happened to her. just speechless. >> reporter: claire's doctor said she had a fighting spirit but her injuries were too severe. the davis family posted a statement saying "although we have lost our precious daughter, we will always be grateful for the indelible journey she took us on over the last 17 years." >> i have a student down in the athletic hall. >> reporter: police say she was shot in the head at point-blank range at arapahoe high school by carl pearson who 80 seconds after his arrival turned the gun on himself. authorities believe claire was a random victim, the intended target was likely the gunman's debate coach. since the shooting friends and well wishers have held vigils, hosted prayers and raised funds to help with claire's medical expenses. one

leanne gregg, nbc news, centennial, colorado. >> and a bit more there.cording to investigators, pierson was looking for the school's librarian before the attack which may have been in response to a confrontation. the librarian is also the school's debate coach and it's believed that coach may have kicked him off the team. >>> we also have an update now on a major storm hitting the midwest and east coast. the storm has caused 900 flights to be canceled today so far. these are live pictures from new jersey, a whole lot of snow on the roads. this is the main who i to newark airport. we have team coverage on the weather, nbc bay area's month ef-francis is at sfo with travel delays. we'll begin with rob mayeda. >> we're watching those ever changing conditions on major east coast airports and in philadelphia, you're seeing freezing rain. so things icing up on contact there off the ground, causing multiple hour delays and cancellations around philadelphia and the new york airports seeing a combination of snow and wind. 27 degrees there. and very strong storm sy

leanne gregg, nbc news. >> and bill karins joins us with more on this. >> it's been a rough start tointer. >> the cold alone. the heating bills and everything else that comes with it. heading out the ice scraper and rock saulth in the mid-atlantic area. secondary roads, bridges and overpasses, then this cold blast. these are all windchill warnings that cover the entire northern plains. so a week of extended cold in that area. as far as ice, the temperatures, 34 in d.c., baltimore, 32, 34 in new york. still below freezing around boston, providence and hartford where we have a coating of snow and freezing drizzle so there's still spots in the suburbs north and west of all the big cities on i-95. it's not a blockbuster snow or ice. a lot of schools probably have delays because temperatures will warm up and it's going to get better as we go throughout the next couple of hours. windchills. in negative numbers in salt lake city. fargo at minus 25 and it's heading for the great lakes and new england as we go throughout the mid-atlantic as we go throughout the middle of this week. again, be

l leann gregg, nbc news. >>> right now, getting a look at that forecast, it's a big holiday week arounde. we want to see how temps are going to hold up with anthony slaughter. >> good morning. we are looking at comfortable conditions. we're in the 50s across the board. we have clear skies. unfortunately, we have lots of haze outside. we have a spare the air alert that's in effect for today. if you're going to be doing any traveling, if you're going to be outside at any point in time, you'll be able no notice that. you'll find those temperatures today are going to be the warmest in the south bay. we'll be at 68 in san jose. peninsula a little cooler. in san francisco, actually, very comfortable. low 60s expected there. in fact, what you're going to find as we get into your game day forecast at the candlestick -- maybe we won't, actually. let's try that again. all right. this is aáf÷ new thing here. maybe we won't actually show you that. all right, we won't show you. well, it was cool to actually make for the past hour or so. there we go. isn't that wonderful how that works? now we'll ta

leanne gregg is in centennial, colorado for us.e? >> yes, they are, alex. investigators think halvorson went to the school for revenge after a confrontation with a teacher and still trying to figure out why he took a shotgun presumably to the shoot the teacher and in the process he shot a 15-year-old girl who remains in critical condition this morning after surgery yesterday. hag vor son was described as a nice young man by neighbors active in the school. he was on the cross-country team, routinely winning debates and speech contests. many students said they're shocked by his actions. >> as far as i was concerned, he was a completely normal student. he was intelligent. participated in class, participated in clubs. overall, you would never guess that he would do something so horrible. >> halvorson was known for his strong opinions. there are reports he may have been bullied for his beliefs. here's what another student had to say about him. >>. >> he was friendly enough. very proud of being a socialist. he was very outspoken on his p

leanne gregg, nbc news. >>> right now a senator's top aid escorted out of his own home in handcuffs after a child pornography raid. >>> rg 3 on the bench. washington's star quarterback is taken out of harm's way for the rest of the season. >> you have to make sure to take care of the best players in a situation like this. >> and a man hunt comes an end after that crash kills a young expected mother and her friend. >> good evening. i'm pat lawson muse. >> and i'm wendy rieger. we're going to start with allegations against a chief of staff. >> he is now on unpaid leave connected to a child important investigation. >> news 4's chris gordon is live. >> reporter: good evening. police urammed down his door an then he spent the rest of the day watching police go through the rest of his belongings. the police removing the senate aide from his home this afternoon. he was in handcuffs as he was taken into custody by police. loaded into an unmarked police car and taken away. they rammed open his front door and started collecting evidence. >> this morning just a little bit before 7:00 i heard poundin

leanne gregg is in denver, colorado, not to harp on dallas because it's my home and looks terrible therethe 20s in 24 hours. it does not look pleasant in colorado. >> no, this is a massive storm affecting more than 25 states, including the entire state of colorado. right now it's about 8 degrees, which is jolting any time. but especially when you consider yesterday this time, it was almost 50 degrees warmer. so quite a harsh reality here that winter is in fact here for the entire week. the temperatures won't get out of the teens. again, this started yesterday afternoon. the temperatures will continue to plummet down to sub zero today in denver. really, it's a cold event. the cold weather is the story but in the mountains, they'll get more than 2 feet of snow. the ski resorts are celebrating, they had to call off world cup training at beaver creek because there was too much snow. depending on where you live depends on how you feel about these conditions. traveling not so great. the road crews have been out all night trying to keep the roads clear, passable and treating them. the plows are

nbc bay area's leann gregg is live outside of arapahoe high school. >> reporter: investigators say the probable motive is revenge. an argument between a teacher and a student. tonight they're trying to piece together any clues that might lead them to what caused this event. lines of students, hands in the air, streamed out of arapahoe high school in centennial, colorado, after midday as police responded to reports of a shooting. >> the gunman came into the school and immediately asked for the location of a very specific teacher and he named that teacher by name. >> reporter: arapahoe county sheriff grayson robinson says the teacher in question fled the school. >> he knew he was the target. and he left that school in an effort to try to encourage the shooter to also leave the school. >> reporter: but the gunman opened fire, wounding two students. one was transported to an area hospital in serious condition. >> we heard two very, very loud gunshots, and immediately closed the door. she closed the door. we ran into the corner, dove on top of each other, tried to get behind the desk. >> re

. >> arapahoe high school, leanne gregg, thank you. >>> in washington, the website may be working buthis week, the administration admitted that enrollment is lagging. it announced as of the end of last month, roughly 365,000 people have gotten private coverage through the new marketplaces. the number enrolled more than tripled in november over october. but the projection was to have roughly 1.2 million people signed up by now. and who are these enrollees? anton gunn is with the department of health and human services. a.k.a. mr. health care. the administration has made it very clear that young people have to sign up for obamacare in order for it to succeed. healthy young people needed in the exchanges to offset the cost of the sick. however, according to this recent harvard university poll, less than one-third of people ages 18 to 29 who are currently without health insurance said that they are likely to enroll in the exchange. how concerning is that? >> well, it's not because we have a long period before open enrollment is over. we have another 3 1/2 months to get people enrolled. th