tell me why they can't get to where this current pack of whales is struggling in northern quebec. >> we don't have direct information on that. what i heard from the mayor and emergency coordinator, is that the canadian icebreakers were some distance away. really, that's all the information i have on that. >> it is great that you were able to join us and show us do i have it right, the hook-end deicer? is that right? >> no. that was the name fabricated by the movie. it is a casco deicer. >> good luck. keep your eye on this for us. if, in fact, you are going to mobilize into action and head up to northern quebec to help out, we would like to follow your progress and let's just all hope the best for those whales up there. thank you, ray! >> we are ready to go. just waiting for the call. >> god speed and we'll talk to you soon hopefully or maybe hopefully we won't talk to you and that things are already okay. we'll be back right after this break. e're helping joplin, missouri, come back from a devastating tornado. man: and now we're helping the east coast recover from hurricane sandy. we

. >> about a dozen killer whales are trapped under a stretch of sea ice in northern quebec. they are using a gap in the ice to get air but experts say they are in danger unless they can find more open water. the whole is -- the hole is shrinking. the nomination for the academy awards are being unveiled in hollywood today ahead of the ceremony next month. "lincoln" is set to do well, as well as "zero dark 30." we will have a special program. let's speak to our film critic joining us from our central london studio. "lincoln"seems to be unbeatable. >> at the moment -- it is very high and the nomination come. we still think it will do well at the oscars, because steven spielberg, an american president, daniel ray lewis. >> let's look at a clip of it. >> if you fail to pass the amendment. >> muddy footprints all over town. >> interesting that neither spielberg or ang lee have been nominated for best director. let's look at les miserables. this is quite a lavish production. it's got a huge names. >> there is a lot of money in it. also very spectacular. i loved it. it should do ver

it's all happening way up in remote northern quebec. and nbc news chief environmental affairs correspondent anne thompson has our report. >> this is a scene of beauty and bewilderment. the ocean's top predators, killer whales, fighting to breathe in canada's hudson bay. this pod of orcas has become an internet and international sensation. watching whales that can grow to 8 tons, taking turns coming up for air in a hole the size of a pickup truck. dr. tim binder is a marine biologist at chicago's shed aquarium. >> they're a very social animal, used to living and traveling in groups so they work together as a dynamic group. >> reporter: the 1,800 residents of nearby could do little more than take pictures. >> i'm very sad. not to be able to help. >> reporter: if the story sounds familiar, it may be because hollywood made a movie of a similar rescue called "big miracle." >> it's going to be okay. >> reporter: based on three great whales trapped in alaska's frozen waters in 1988. >> been going on for 13 days now. the whales and that ice the

they've been trapped under thick, arctic ice for days, in a corner of northern quebec. view from above, shows that small opening is in the middle of a giant ice field. so, the town's mayor sent an urgent plea, for the coast guard to send up an ice breaker to free them. but ottawa says, ice breakers are too far away and an unlikely option. but the attention caused by the viral video, has sent officials to send a crew of scientists and biologists to see what can be done. but time may be running out. >> the video is very dramatic. you see a very small body of water with some very agitated whales. >> reporter: local residents don't appear to have the proper tools to cut through the ice. and the patch of open water is shrinking in freezing temperatures, adding to the urgency. >> number one is food. how long can they go for? and number two, how smaller will be breathing hole get? and number three, how long can they last? >> reporter: orcas aren't normally found here. a break in the weather could be the only difference between freedom or tragedy. richard madden, ctv news, otta

it's reality in northern quebec. the whales are gathered around a single hole. the hole is no bigger than a truck. they think a sudden drop in temperatures caught the orcas off guard. the mayor is urging the canadian government to send an icebreaker immediately. the government is sending specialists to assess the situation first. pretty incredible video. >>> well, let's bring in jeff ranieri once again to talk about our cold weather here and maybe ice on our local roads. >> snow levels lowering into the east bay hills. something cool to show you on the radar in a minute. the cold front passed by earlier this afternoon. it's well off to the south. but there is so much instability in the upper-levels of the atmosphere that we're finding plenty of wet weather back behind the center of the storm. and that's all potential low snow for the bay area for tomorrow morning. not expecting it at the valley floor. but to some rare and unusual levels here for the bay area. right now as the doppler radar scans around, what you're going to note is offshore, we have some areas o

this morning there are new concerns in northern quebec because they haven't been seen.l sudden drop in temperature left the oh kaus boxed in. they have been ordered in to try to break the sigice and help th find open water. >> politics now. a few hours from now the white house task force holds the final day of talks on gun violence. but they are drawing a lot of strong criticism from gun associations across the country. they say the focus is really on attacking the second amendment. doug luzader is following this angle for us. he's live in washington with more. >> good morning doug. the focus turns to violent video games. it is clear where the white house stands on this even after meeting with gun rights advocates. they may have been sitting around the table but there was a wide gulf as they talked about gun control. >> there has to be common ground to not every problem but diminish the probability that what we see in these mass shootings and occur. >> the white house mhas made no secret of the fact the president wants a new ban on assault style weapons in the wake of l

. >> a town in northern quebec, 3 degrees and in fargo, it's one. minus two in fairbanks one in fargo. so cold air is here. we have two or three more days of this bitterly cold. look at these high temperatures. 10s, 20s, low 0s here. tomorrow we warm up around four or five degrees. nice warm up to 30 in chicago. the mid-to upper 20s. it gets better by around tuesday next week. a lot of people back in the 40s and 50s, shep, very briefly, with some rain. 40 degrees will feel really, really nice after these last couple of days. >> but snow between now and then. right? >> got kind of a rough situation. tonight down across parts of the south. look at what happened as we move forward. the pink is the icing and freezing rain potential we're going to see across much of tennessee and kentucky. tonight and tomorrow, and a little snow. we're not talking huge snow but maybe two or three inches for places around virginia some north carolina. but the icing is the big danger. especially on the road tonight and tomorrow morning. >> thank you, rick. north korea says

they are trapped in a 50 foot by 50 foot space in northern quebec.xperts are being sent to the scene to see what, if anything, they can do to save them. but if the hole they're using to breathe freezes over, they will eventually die. open water is at least six miles away. in the next half hour we'll talk with william hurley about the desperate effort to save these killer whales. >>> after yesterday's hall of fame vote roger clemens knows what it's like to be on the wrong ending of a shutout. clemens along with barry bonds and sammy sosa all shut out in the balloting for baseball's highest honor. each of them tainted by the game's steroid scandal. 75% of votes are needed to get in. clemens and bonds each had less than 40%. sammy sosa barely picked up 12%. amazing for a guy with 600 home runs. no one got into the hall of fame yesterday. that's the first time that's happened since 1996. in my opinion, the biggest injustice might be for someone who had no connection to steroids at all, craig bizio fell just 39 votes short. >> what did mlb say? >> major l

on tuesday a hunter in northern quebec spotted 11 whales taking turns bathing and breathing through aole in the ice. they were trapped unape able to reach the open sea. the situation had similarities over several gray whales trapped in alaska in 1988. hollywood recently made a story of their rescue into a movie the big miracle. this time the whales apparently found freedom on their own. canada's globe and newspaper reports the whales were gone when people arrived at the site this morning. one local told the paper the whales likely found a path through that ice right out to the sea. a news chopper pilot became part of the story when he helped rescue a man who had fallen off his boat. it happened offer western australia. that pilot says he was on a routine flight when he spotted the boat spinning out of control. he saw the driver nearby struggling to stay afloat. the pilot tossed the guy a life jacket and phoned marine police. he hovered over the scene until the crews came to rescue the driver. local media report he is recovering and well. i'm shepard smith. this is "the fox report." it

trapped by ice. 11 of them trapped in a 50 foot by 50 foot space near a small canadian village in northern quebec. experts are headed there today to see if it's possible to save them but if the hole they're using to surface and breathe freezes over, the orcas will eventually die. earlier i asked william hurley of the georgia aquarium why these whales ended up there in the first place. >> we're seeing a lot of changes in the arctic. in this case it looks like these animals were probably looking for food and found themselves in a place they wouldn't normally be exploring and mother nature took a turn and brought the ice in quickly. this is one of the number one killers for marine mammals in the arctic areas. we didn't used to have iphones in places where we could spot them like we do today. >> ice-breaking ships are about a day and a half away and open water is about six miles away for those whales. there was a movie that came out last year and there was a case in 1988 in alaska, where they were able to make a path for whales but the ice breakers may be too far away this time. >>> still ahead this

the whales are trapped under a long stretch of frozen water in northern quebec, with only one hole tofreezing over as well and officials think a sudden drop in the temperatures left the orcas boxed in. the canadian government is being called on to break that ice and to help those poor whales find some open water. >>> the flu going from bad to even worse. 44 states are now reporting a widespread outbreak of the cases. in boston, the mayor declared a public health emergency with 700 confirmed cases compared to just 70 last season. 18 people in massachusetts have died and in ohio, a hospital now requiring all patients with the flu to wear masks. >>> the award season is kick off. it did last night with the people's choice awards. the big winner? >> and the people's choice is "hunger games." >> it won five trophies, including best movie. but it was taylor swift who stole the show. the newly single singer with a very plunging neck line, as you can see on that ralph lauren gown. swift just split with her 18-year-old boyfriend, one direction singer harry styles. what do you think about that d

was pushing it all against the eastern shore of the hudson bay, way up here, up into northern canada, up into quebec up against there, was trapping the whales up against the shore. as the wind kept blowing in one direction, right here to this town in northern canada, a very small little village, they found this pod of way, you can see the pictures there, so very dramatic, they couldn't get out. well, just, in the overnight hours, the winds last night blew dramatically from the northeast, making the ice that had right up all against these islands, let that ice crack away, move away from the islands, and the orcas were allowed to swim out. so they haven't been seen now for about 24 hours. that's the good news. they do believe that they got out of there, and the ice is still not back to the shore, because the winds are not blowing from the west just yet. so some good news for those. just dramatic pictures of those whales, coming up for air in a box not much bigger than a swimming pool. >> is the ice early for this season, what other reason why they could get trapped? >> that's a good question. the wate