phillip mena, abc news, plymouth, massachusetts. >> lis lips are frozen there.he blustery weather is covering a wide region. >> we're talking from the upper midwest to new england. even florida will feel a chill today. accuweather's paul williams has the latest. good morning, good to see you. >> good to see you, as well. we have the jet stream high tailing its way down to the deep south opening the doorfor much colder weather and more snow showers throughout the atlantic, towards the d.c. area, as well as chicago around the great lakes and dipping around tennessee. low possible system, possible storm tracks. we'll continue to track with back end scat areaed showers. that strong jet will open the door for colder weather for the southeast and towards florida. northeast, a double dose of low pressure systems producing more snow. kendis, reena. >> paul, thank you. >>> the white house is asking congress for 1.billion to fight the zika virus as the state of emergency expands in florida. the money would be used on a vaccine and other measures to protect women from the

i'm phillip mena in for kendis gibson. >> he's a little under the weather. thanks for flying in. >> always enjoy being here. >> i'm reena ninan. we're going to talk about the quarterback. you don't buy this. you're part of the group that doesn't buy it. >> qb cuties. that he attractive young men. i'll offer my opinion about that a little later >> you're a big sports buff. a new line of attack in the democratic race for the white house. >> we're just five days away from the nation's first primary election contest. vermont senator bernie sanders put hillary clinton on the defensive over her progressive credentials. at a cnn town hall in derry, new hampshire, sanders slammed clinton over her ties to wall street pro business trade agreements and herr 2002 authorization of the iraq war. >> clinton shot back saying that she was amused that sanders appears to have appointed himself the gatekeeper on who is progressive. drama playing out on the republican side. texas senator ted cruz issued an apology to one of his challengers >> and donald trump is heating up the w

abc's phillip mena on the rescue effort to get him back on the ground. >> reporter: dangling from the branches, this small plane left hanging from a tree, nose down, after a frightening crash. the only person on the plane, the pilot. 87-year-old herbert bartell, waiting hours to be saved. authorities say he had just taken off and ran into trouble. >> he tried to do a u-turn, but he lost control and it went into the trees. tree, bartell managed to call 911, but it took nearly four hours to get him down, because of all the branches in the way. >> he was in very good spirits the whole time there. he was conscious, alert, oriented the whole incident. >> reporter: bartell escaped with only minor injuries. >> think by the end he was a little apg shus to get out. >> reporter: phillip mena, abc news, new york. >>> now, to a troubled cruise ship back in the headlines. anthem of the seas, the ship damaged after sailing into hurricane-force winds earlier this month, forced to turn around mid-trip this weekend, returning to new jersey because of a severe storm in its path. >>> and now to hollywoo

>> phillip mena, thank you. >>> let's get right to meteorologist rob marciano, tracking both systems tonight. rob? >> reporter: david, this storm is massive. the center is well offshore, but the wind field so big, it has been cranking all day long. that will continue tonight with more accumulating snows in new hampshshe, but i think for the primary tomorrow, we're looking at a mostly dry day. the roads could be slick. new york, dry, baimore, d.c., philly, going to see some accumulating snow with the next round of energy coming through. several inches of expected. big-time cold coming in behind this. look at the wind chills. minus 14. will feel like 9 degrees in chicago. the coldest air of the season for the east this weekend. david? >> rob marciano, thank you. >>> there is a major development this evening in the zika outbreak. late today, the cdc in this country moving to its highest level of alert. and now, a new state of emergency in florida. seven counties on alert. the president asking for nearly $2illion to fight zika here at home. now, new questions, whether the u.s. olympic at

>> phillip mena, thank you so much. >>> let's turn to politics now. the death of supreme court justice scalia putting a somber cast on tonight's republican presidential debate in south carolina. but the battle on that stage certain to be fierce. abc's mary bruce in south carolina tonight. >> reporter: tonight, a critical moment in the gop race for president. the candidates, tearing each other apart. set to faceoff on a debate stage in south carolina. >> find out where he gets his money. >> reporter: donald trump and ted cruz poised for an ugly evening. >> as it gets closer, it's going to get nastier and nastier and nastier and they get personal, they get ugly. >> reporter: and it's already pretty ugly. with one primary win each, cruz and trump are clobbering each other to take the third contest. trump taking it to a new level, threatening to sue. tweeting, if ted cruz doesn't clean up his act, stop cheating and doing negative ads, i have standing to sue him for not being a natural born citizen. cruz punching right back. >> there's more than a little o

abc's phillip mena on the rescue effort to get him back on the ground. >> reporter: dangling from the branches, this small plane left hanging from a tree, nose down, after a frightening crash. the only person on the plane, the pilot. 87-year-old herbert bartell, waiting hours to be saved. while rescue crewed figured out how to get him down. police say bartell had just taken off when he ran into trouble. >> the engine started to sputter and he lost control. so, he tried to do a u-turn, but he lost control and it went into the trees. >> reporter: stuck up in the tree, bartell managed to call 911, but it took nearly four hours to get him down, because of all the branches in the way. >> he was in very good spirits the whole time there. he was conscious, alert, oriented the whole incident. >> reporter: bartell escaped with only minor injuries. >> think by the end he was a little anxious to get out. >> reporter: phillip mena, abc news, new york. >>> now, to hollywood. the academy awards about to get under way tonight. the star power building on the red carpet. the biggest celebs in the busi

>> phillip mena tonight. thank you. >>> still ahead tonight, the death of justice scalia, sure to be part of tonight's republin showdown. the gop rivals taking the stage. the war of words heating up cruz. this jusust got interesting. why pause to take a pill? or stop to find a bathroom? cialis for daily use is approved to treat both erectile dysfunction and the urinary symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently, day or night. tellour doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy eugh for sex do n not take alis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas for pulmonary hypertension, as it may cause an unsaf drop in blood pressure. do not dnk alcohol in excessss. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or any symptoms of an allergic reaction, stop taking ciali

abc's phillip mena tonight on >> reporter: connecticut firefighters going through that bus's windshield to reach the victims. >> mass casualty incident. tour bus rollover. >> reporter: the charter bus carrying dozens of passengers from new york city to a connecticut casino rolling over in low visibility on icy i-95. >> we had a little extra kating to do. we had some guardrails that went through the bus. >> reporter: at least three critically injured. more than a foot of snow expected in parts of new england, with winds and waves pummelling the coast. those winds gusting above 60 miles an hour in nantucket. flooding beaches and submerging streets. meanwhile, a second system causing white-knuckle driving in the heartland. whiteout conditions in minnesota. tractor trailers off the road in iowa. tonight, that storm heading east. david, this is main street here in plymouth and it is usually packed at this time, but tonight, it's a virtual ghost town. emergency officials here are urging everyone to stay home as the coast braces for more snow. >> phillip mena, thank you. >>> let's get right to

>> phillip mena with some important tips tonight. phillip, thank you. >>> overseas tonight to new fingerpointing to the war in syria. russia and the u.s. trading barbs over how that war is being waged, dimming hopes for a cease-fire that had been under discussion. those failures leaving the flood of refugees with little hope. abc's alex marquardt reporting from the syria/turkey border. >> reporter: relentless russian air strikes have reduced towns and villages in northern syria to rubble. it has allowed the assad regime to besiege its biggest city, aleppo. it's sent a new flood of syrians, some 50,000, toward the border with turkey. aid groups are now frantically soon be on their way. turkey is keeping the border closed for now. there's been a steady stream of trucks like this one delivering aid to the displaced inside syria. the few who are being allowed out are the wounded from the fighting. at the main hospital, we met 18-year-old ahad. he told us that those russian air strikes leveled the villages where his family is from. so, hi

>> phillip mena in plymouth, massachusetts, tonight. phillip, thank you. >>> let's get right to meteorologist rob marciano, tracking both systems tonight. rob? >> reporter: good evening, david. this storm truly is massive. the center is well offshore, but the wind field so big, it has been cranking all day long across coastal new england. that will continue tonight with more accumulating snows in new hampshire, but i think for the primary tomorrow, we're looking at a mostly dry day, but the roads could very well be slick. new york, dry, baltimore, d.c., philly, going to see some accumulating snow with the next round of energy coming through. several inches expected, even back through parts of eastern ohio. big-time cold coming in behind this. look at these wind chills. for minneapolis tomorrow morning, minus 14. will feel like 9 degrees in chicago. even more cold air coming in behind this. for the east this weekend. david? >> rob marciano in our new york studio tonight. rob, thank you. >>> there is a major development this evening in th

i'm reena ninan. >> and i'm phillip mena. heating up. a couple of republicans dropping out of the race, narrowingngt and there's a lot going on. >> we are going to find out later today, abcill winnow down exactly who will be in the debates coming this saturday. so we'll have a lot to look forward to. >> we want to start this half hour with bill cosby. the legendary comedian and his legal am will appeal a judge's decisio to allow a sexual assault case against cosby to move forward. >> it wasn't the only bad news they received in a pennsylvania courtroom yesterday. we get the details from christie ileto of our station in iladelphia. >> reporter: bill cosby kept quiet only waving to fans outside the courthouse after nearly two days of testimony and argues, judge steven o'neil denied a defense motion to thrhr out a sexual assault against the 78-year-old comedian. >> how are you doing? what's your reaction? >> reporter: he's accused of 2004. cosby claims it was consensual. his attorneys argue that a 2005 verbal promise not to prosecute by the

phillip mena, abc news, new york. >>> boy, he looks cold. it comes after snow, rain and nice following a polar vortex so powerful you can see how the cold clear air blew all the clouds to sea in this picture that was tweeted out from astronaut scott kelly in space at the station up there. scott said, it even looks cold from up here. accuweather's paul williams is straking all of this for us. >> i appreciate that, kendis, reena. what we have here, ladies and gentlemen, is a storm that's going to turn ugly and stay that way. low pressure system rides its way right into the northeast and going to start off as just snow but it's going to turn ugly as a wintry mix will takeover all the way back towards the tennessee freezing rain as well as sleet. this storm's not going to let up on monday and going to bring significant icing down towards the deep south. ugly, like i said. >> thank you, paul. >>> and turning now to the diego of supreme court justice antonin scalia, the body is believed to have arrived in virginia hours ago. flown back from el pas

i'm phillip mena. >> i'm reena ninan. here are some of the top headlines we're following this morning on "world news now." just five days away from the new hampshire primary. the globs are coming off as bernie sanders accused hillary clinton of being out of sync with true progressives. and donald trump accuses ted cruz of stealing the iowa caucus. full coverage ahead. >>> a top lawmaker has asked federal marshals to hunt down a former flint emergency manager who failed to show up at a congressional hearing. his lawyer says the manager does want to testify, but he wasn't >>> the leader of that standoff at an oregon wildlife refuge and several others have ever been indicted by a grand jury. details about what charges they face expected to be released later today. >>> the irs says it's do it yourself tax filing site e file isn't available right now. the computer system had a hardware failure. they hope to have it back up and running later today. those are some of our top stories on this thursday, february 4th. >> announcer:

we get some details right now from abc's phillip mena. >> reporter: white knuckle driving across the midwest. heavy snow bringing white out conditions outside indianapolis, injuring at least ten. pennsylvania's i-78 is back open after this massive pile-up saturday killing three and sending dozens to the hospital. that blast of arctic air sending temperatures plunging to lows not seen in years. >> it feels like a razor. >> reporter: new york city hitting minus 1 degree. the coldest day in new york city in 22 years. >> it's like whipping you in the back of the head. it hurts. i don't like it. it's like being on a roller coaster. >> reporter: boston even colder, 9 below but feeling like minus 36. for those braving the elements, it was brutal. 150 firefighters battling this fire for hours in philadelphia. the water meant for the flames turning to ice encasing this car. in new hampshire, 40 people had to be rescued from a mountain tram. the temperature there? zero. a messy start to the week, but bringing with it relief from phillip mena, abc news, new >>> boy, he looks cold. >> yeah, he d