tom costello said it was 10 below with the wind chill in d.c. i was going to complain about the 4 we're dealing with in new york city, but i won't do that anymore. let's take a look at the graphics. 111 million people are under some sort of wind chill advisory or wind chill warning, and that is going to last all weekend long. tomorrow morning, it will feel like 20 degrees below zero in boston as that cold air pours in. it only takes 30 minutes to get frostbite when conditions are that cold. we're looking at 6 below down in d.c. tomorrow. p 20 below also the wind chill in indianapolis. also the wind chill in on sunday morning the cold continues. temperatures will feel like 29 below in bangor, maine, 10 below in new york city, even down into the carolinas we are going to feel wind chills well down into the lower single digits. as for records, sunday morning we'll see several records broken across major cities. zero in philly, 1 in new york, 5 below in boston. the good news is by sunday afternoon a warm-up will move into the midwest and it should m

tom costello joins me now. what's the latest on a go team and how they will investigate this. >> reporter: a couple of notes here, andrea, to begin with you may have heard senator flake say he had been told -- actually stop right there. take a look at the shot. there is a crossing light there. the question is if there's a crossing arm. there are flashing lights. among the priorities for the investigation will be were they working, was there an arm, a railroad arm that was supposed to come down, did it come down, did this trash truck try to beat the train or was it stuck on the tracks? but it does not appear this is a cattle grade crossing where you kind of take your chances when you go across. there should have been functioning lights so that will be part of the investigation. the ntsb and the railroad administration will be launching the investigation we expect rather quickly. they pulled this train back. let me give you a sense on what it would take to stop a train traveling at 55 miles an hour. i can give yo

here's tom costello. >> reporter: across the country, we've met the people struggling with skyrocketing health care costs. the sullivan family with an autistic son and so many more. now three mega companies and their influential ceos say they're forming a partnership to drive down health care costs for their combined 1 million employees. billionaire warren buffett saying the ballooning costs of health care act as a hungry tape worm on the american economy. >> health care in america is a a big mess and it comes with a big cost. >> health care makes up a staggering part of the american economy. it cost each american roughly $10,000 a year, more than any country in the year. the new partnership says it will be free from profit-making incentives and use technology solutions to provide high-quality health care at a reasonable cost. how? by using their combined buying power or by cutting out middle men like pharmacy benefit managers. amazon is already preparing to sell prescription drugs. today's announcement so big it drove down stock prices for big health care providers. >> we spend way too

tom costello, nbc news, washington. >>> and we're already seeing the effects of those tax changes on american companies. today walmart, the nation's largest private employer, announced plans to raise wages, hand out bonuses and increase benefits. but there's some bad news for employees and customers at some walmart-owned sam's club stores. we get details from gabe gutierrez. >> reporter: tonight a pay raise at the nation's biggest retailer. wages at walmart will now start at $11 an hour, up from $9. eligible employees will also get up to $1,000 bonus depending on their years of service. karina hanson in texas, works at walmart with her husband. >> any extra income, that bonus, is awesome. that just means we get to spend a little bit and put into savings account for our three kids for their future. >> reporter: but the news comes on the same day walmart announced it was closing dozens of sam's club stores. walmart's one of more than 100 companies passing on savings after congress cut the corporate tax rate to 21% including jetblue, southwest and american airlines, a handful of banks,

we get more now from nbc's tom costello. >> are you okay? are you unable to speak? >> reporter: the video posted on facebook captures a clearly distressed young woman wearing only a hospital gown and socks in freezing temperatures just outside the university of maryland medical center in baltimore. >> so you all are just going to leave this lady out here with no clothes on? >> reporter: psychotherapist imamu baraka started recording when he saw hospital workers dump the patient and leave. >> individuals have left a patient half naked on the city streets and it's about 30 degrees out here right now. >> reporter: baraka called an ambulance which took her back to the same hospital. >> i share the community's shock and anger at what occurred. >> reporter: now, the hospital is apologizing. >> where we absolutely failed and where we own that failure is in the demonstration of basic humanity and compassion. >> reporter: it's the latest so-called patient dumping example. hospitals discharging at-risk, often poor patients into the streets. cases in los angeles, las vegas and

nbc's tom costello has extensively covered the hacking of america for us and has the latest alert. >> reporter: we've all done it. mistyped a web address by just a single letter. netflix with an e after the t, southwestr instead of southwest, google with an extra e. >> i had mistyped costco, c-o-s-t-o-c-o.com. >> reporter: that extra "o" landed alan stern on a website that looked like costco where he was asked to fill out a survey to get a free bottle of face cream if he paid for shipping. he talked to kntv in san francisco. >> i looked at my credit card statement, and there's four $98 charges on my account. >> reporter: it wasn't until he called costco to complain that he learned it wasn't their website that had taken his money. it's called typo squatting, website addresses often run by overseas criminals just waiting for our fat-finger typos. >> they look for a major brand name. a website address that you normally visit and they add a letter, remove a letter, maybe choose two that are really similar on the keyboard. >> reporter: the victims, you and me, are often convinced to type i

tom costello, nbc news, washington. >>> still to come here tonight, those who serve. a soldier's best friend saved on the battlefield and now with a real home. >>> the rare and beautiful scenes on the mississippi river. american bald eagles as we've never seen them. >>> you can count one famous name out of this year's academy awards. last year's best actor winner, casey affleck, has reportedly backed out of the ceremony. traditionally the reigning best actor presents the award for best actress. but amid the me too movement affleck has come under new scrutiny. he was sued for sexual harassment by two women in 2010. both settled out of court. affleck has denied the allegations. >>> the symbolic doomsday clock was moved forward today by 30 seconds to just two minutes before midnight. the group of atomic scientists who announce every year how close they think we might be to the apocalypse cited nuclear tensions with north korea, rising tensions between russia and the west and the threat from climate change. >>> something a bit more calming. a rare sight on the mississippi

nbc's tom costello has been covering this story from the beginning. >> reporter: in the vastness of a southern indian ocean, a new strategy to find mh-370. texas-based ocean infinity will send eight underwater drones to search 9,000 square miles, roughly the size of vermont. but unlike the previous searches, these drones would not be tethered to the surface. >> without the cable, you get less noise, so the quality of the data is better. >> reporter: today the malaysian government agreed to pay ocean infinity up to $70 million but only if it finds the plane within 90 days. >> most important, they must find the debris field. >> reporter: malaysia 370 disappeared on march 8th, 2014, with 239 people on board. while pieces of wreckage washed ashore in the western indian ocean, a three-year search failed to find the plane itself, investigators calling it almost inconceivable. the new search ship will launch underwater drones that can descend more than three miles beneath the surface with new sonars, sensors and cameras. >> we've had a longer time now to look and review and analyze the data,

lester, back to you. >> tom costello, thank you. this monster snowstorm has crippled a huge portion of the country, from florida to maine. satellite capturing the massive size and scope of it all from space. for more on the impact up and down the east coast, we turn to rehema ellis in hard-hit long island. >> reporter: the massive blizzard slamming the east coast. >> it's bad. >> reporter: turned dangerous and deadly. outside charlotte, north carolina, two people were killed in this crash. and near raleigh, a desperate rescue attempt when a 13-year-old boy fell through ice into this pond. >> i was just walking, and the ice cracked and i fell in. >> reporter: across the south, thousands without power due to strong wind gusts. in virginia beach, residents turned to shelters for safety. in connecticut, it was near whiteout conditions. >> it's freezing. if you don't belong to be out here, you shouldn't be out here. >> reporter: the snow was too much for some structures to hold. >> there it goes. >> reporter: watch as this roof of this g

tom costello, nbc news, washington. >>> tonight, the evidence the national institutes of health says his top priority is developing a better flu vaccine. public officials are hoping this current epidemic will change people's minds and save lives. >> reporter: in las vegas, 12 year old carlos, fun-loving and full of life, died in his mother's arms from the flu. >> he goes, mom, i feel so dizzy. he was literally, like he stopped breathing. >> reporter: hospitals overwhelmed. today atlanta's grady memorial put up a mobile e.r. and in tampa today, nurses prepped flu shots for a free vaccine clinic tomorrow. what is it that causes somebody to die from the flu? >> it really has to relate to someone developing pneumonia or other complications related to the flu, so not necessarily the flu itself. >> reporter: one bit of good news? 6 month old elia is now back at home. >> she's been a miracle the whole time. >> reporter: a survivor in a brutal flu season. kerry sanders, tampa. >>> he sparked a big backlash about what he said about women in music, now the grammys president is changing his tun

so i want to bring in tom costello who covers aviation for nbc news and is joining us from d.c. m, no fatal commercial airliner crashes anywhere in the world last year. how unusual is that? >> reporter: it's very unusual, but notice all the caveats you just put in the sentence. no fatal commercial aviation accidents. so there were crashes last year. there were commercial airliner crashes last year, but no large commercial airliner crashes anywhere in the world that killed anybody. we had -- you can parse all of this out there, where, for example, cargo planes that crashed, there were for-hire planes that crashed, commercial planes that crashed, but none of them completed that picture. what is really remarkable is that we have had a string of years, so the president taking credit now for all of this. but the truth is, in the united states, we haven't had a commercial airliner, fatal commercial airliner crash involving a u.s. carrier since 2009. that was the crash that happened in upstate new york in which 49 people on board were killed and one person on the ground killed. those we

tom costello nbc news boston. >> pop quiz, how many chicken wings will we seat on super bowl sunday? a hint. over a billion. and then tom hanks may be taking on his toughest movie role yet. "early today" will be right back. eath that i can't see... like harmful bacteria hiding below the gum line. so now i use this. crest gum detoxify introducing new crest gum detoxify. new crest gum detoxify works below the gum line. it's clinically proven to neutralize harmful plaque bacteria and help reverse early gum damage. new crest gum detoxify. gums are good, so is my checkup! look for crest gum detoxify in stores today. a whole new concept in skin say heldefense.e-tox! new absolutely ageless®... ...pre-tox day mask from aveeno®. its' powerful anti-oxidant formula... ...fights pollution and keeps skin looking younger, longer. aveeno®. you're so cold, come in! what's wrong? it's dry... your scalp? mine gets dry in the winter too. try head and shoulders' dry scalp care it nourishes the scalp and... ...keeps you up to 100% flake free head and shoulders' dry scalp care when you have a cold, stuff

t tom costello, nbc, washington. >>> no pen, no problem. a major credit card doing away with the hassle at the register. >>> he's only 2 when it comes to heartburn trust the brand doctors trust for themselves. nexium 24hr is the number one choice of doctors and pharmacists for their own frequent heartburn. and all day all night protection. when it comes to frequent heartburn, trust nexium 24hr. he's a nascar champion who's she's a world-class swimmer who's stared down the best in her sport. but for both of them, the most challenging opponent was... pe blood clots in my lung. it was really scary. a dvt in my leg. i had to learn all i could to help protect myself. my doctor and i choose xarelto® xarelto®... to help keep me protected. xarelto® is a latest-generation blood thinner... ...that's proven to treat and reduce the risk of dvt and pe blood clots from happening again. in clinical studies, almost 98% of patients on xarelto® did not experience another dvt or pe. here's how xarelto works. xarelto® works differently. warfarin interferes wit

tom costello, nbc news, washington. >>> still to come here tonight, those who serve. a soldier's best friend saved in the balgtsdzfield and now with a real home. >>> the rare and beautiful scenes on the missi looking to save even more money on your medicare part d prescriptions? at walgreens, we'll help you save more with zero dollar copays on select plans and reward points on prescriptions. so no matter where you're going or who you are, it's worth the trip. we'll help you find low cost prescriptions including zero dollar copays on select medicare part d plans. walgreens. trusted since 1901. had a little incident witht kia moped in bermuda.e. oh. even with insurance, we had to dip into our 401(k) and it set us back a little bit. sometimes you don't have a choice. but it doesn't mean you guys can't get back on track. great. great. yeah. no judgment. just guidance. td ameritrade. fast like stop staring atcaps help youthe clock fast,st, like stop worrying about your boss fast, like wow, you're already asleep fast. when life keeps you up... zzzquil helps you fall asleep

tom costello, nbc news, washington. >> just ahead, deborah messing jumps into the wage of quality debates we will introduce you to red bull's latest extreme sport, moonlight speed riding. you're watching "early today." ♪ ♪he's gotta play it cool to seal the deal.♪ ♪better find a way to smooth things over.♪ ♪if only harry used some... ♪...bounce, to dry. ♪yeah! ♪he would be a less wrinkly, and winning at life.♪ when a achoo!alls... ...answer it. with zicam cold remedy. it shortens colds, so you get better, faster. colds are gonna call. answer them with zicam! zicam. get your better back. now in delicious fruit drops. we believe in food that's anaturally beautiful,, fresh and nutritious. so there are no artificial colors, no artificial flavors, no artificial preservatives in any of the food we sell. we believe in real food. whole foods market. people would stare. psoriasis does that. it was tough getting out there on stage. i wanted to be clear. i wanted it to last. so i kept on fighting. i found something that worked. and keeps on working. now? they see me. see me. see if cosentyx could m

tom costello, nbc news, boston. >>> coming up, hey, are you taking the tissue test? yep, and my teeth are yellow. i mean i knew they weren't perfect, but, ugh. oh well, all hope is lost! oh thanks! clearly my whitening toothpaste is not cutting it. time for whitestrips. crest glamorous white whitestrips are the only ada-accepted whitening strips proven to be safe and effective. they work below the enamel surface to whiten 25x better than a leading whitening toothpaste. hey, nice smile! thanks! i crushed the tissue test! yeah you did! crest. healthy, beautiful smiles for life. you can do it. we can do this. at fidelity, our online planning tools are clear and straightforward so you can plan for retirement while saving for the things you want to do today. -whoo! if you could see your cough, you'd see all the sickness you're spreading. robitussin cf max. nothing lasts longer and treats more symptoms for your cough, cold and flu. (elevator bell ringing) robitussin cf max severe. because it's never just a cough. it's life insurance and wharetirement solutions toic? help y

tom costello has the details. >> reporter: if you're like millions of americans wondering whether the new tax law will mean more take-home pay, a warning tonight, you may need to do your homework. the irs says it's up to all of us to double-check your p paystubs starting next month month. the irs only rolled out the new tables today. >> there's a lot of work left to be done, but we're estimating that 90% of the workers will see an increase in take-home pay because of the tax cuts act. >> reporter: the white house is anxious for americans to see that higher take-home pay, but so far employers have had to use last year's tables to calculate withholdings. employers are now scrambling to use the tables released today by mid-february. >> there's a lot of confusion. we've been handling phone calls for the past three weeks. >> reporter: boston cpa jeff levine's advice for middle class americans don't change your personal exemptions to increase your take-home pay, at least not yet. >> this has been promoted as a major tax law change. the real savings might not be as large as they think. so if

but exactly how change could come is still an open question. >> that was tom costello reporting. there are some privacy kernels for the 1 million employees whose employers could be concerned about medical concerns. it is also a bit pre mature as we don't know what form had company will take. >>> time is running out to sign up for health care through covered california. the deadline is midnight tonight. despite the trump administration's attempt to weaken the affordable care act, you can still sign up in california is that a lot of folks have been. as of ten days ago, more than 340,000 new consumers signed up through covered california. outpace go last year's numbers. and more than 1.2 million existing members renewed their coverage. >>> coming up, new concern that's hitting the country hard. the possibility of a double dip that has doctors worried. even b cases has peaked for this season, doctors are warning of a possible "double dip". >>> a new health worry even before the number of flu cases have peaked, doctors are warning of a possible double dip. >> the possibility of a seco

joining me now is our own tom costello covering transportation for us.e basics here. human error, technical error, what do they think happened, what have we been able to recreate. >> first of all, federal investigators are on the scene from the federal railroad investigation and amtrak has their investigators on the scene. witnesses sate crossing guards, the arms that come down and the fight lites were functioning. and so you've got to now wonder why was it this trash truck was on the tracks. because the train always has the right-of-way. there is some initial reporting from the scene from witnesses who were suggesting that this trash truck may have been trying to beat the train. and as we know, boy, that is a deadly mistake. we've seen it time and time and time again. i mean, we have 260 people dying every year in motor vehicle crashes with trains and we have about 840 people injured every year just in motor vehicle train accidents. the trouble is, according to federal investigators, almost always it is somebody in a hurry trying to get across the track

let's go to tom costello, who does cover transportation for us. where do they start with something like this, tom? >> they have a mess. but let me if i could give you at least one of the head lines that i believe we have at this moment. that's according to sources, this particular crossing was e equipped with lights. i think we have seen the lights as well as gates. and that it was run by the bucking ham branch railroad company. they own the tracks. they operate trains over them. but again, there should have been and i think we have seen the lights, those flashing lights you'll see at a crossing guard. then also should have had gates. we can't speak to whether they were operating, but it was one of those locations that should have been. e equipped with that. so the ntsb and federal railroad administration and amtrak will be looking at how did this happen. always keeping in. mind the train always has the right of way. and a train can take up to a mile and a half to stop. that's an estimate of how fast it was going. so they are going to pull this tra

tom costello, nbc news, boston >>> troubling new revelations about the technology million also of americansse to help stay fit. could the same kind of app you use to track runs, walks or bike rides end up compromising the safety of america's troops? let's get more on this from nbc news pentagon correspondent hans nichols. >> reporter: zoom into war zones and a fun workout heat map using gps technology to track where athletes use fitness devices becomes a potentially dangerous road map to u.s. military bases. today the pentagon announcing it will review guidelines for use of all wireless and technological devices on military facilities. after "the washington post" reported that a curious 20-year-old student discovered they could reveal the locations of u.s. soldiers or spies. >> in certain areas you can see a regular place where someone starts and stops their runs and often that's their house. >> reporter: in afghanistan the roads of the canned har air field lit up by soldiers working in running routes. in a statement the company behind the technology says we take the safety of our community

tom costello, nbc news, washington. watch me. ♪ i've tried lots of things for my joint pain. now?se guys how it's done? please. real people with active psoriatic arthritis are changing the way they fight it... they're moving forward with cosentyx®. it's a different kind of targeted biologic. it's proven to help people find less joint pain and clearer skin. don't use if you are allergic to cosentyx. before starting cosentyx you should be checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms of an infection. or if you have received a vaccine, or plan to. if you have inflammatory bowel disease tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen. serious allergic reactions may occur. with less joint pain, watch me. for less joint pain and clearer skin, ask your rheumatologist do i use ...one that'sthat wgood for my teeth? .. about cosentyx. now i don't have to choose! from crest 3d white comes new whitening therapy. it's our best whitening technology. plus, it has a fortifying formula to

nbc's tom costello reports on how it happened. >> reporter: fire on the wing and terror on board.oronto from cancun. >> there's people running around. >> reporter: it happened as an empty plane being towed somehow backed into the west jet plane as it approached the gate. >> it started venting fuel all over the wing, and about a second or two later it was a big fireball. and then everyone started yelling and panicking. >> reporter: after first remaining seated passengers quickly jumped down the slides. >> going off, they are evacuating. >> reporter: but witnesses said some passengers grabbed their carry-on bags, a potentially deadly mistake. >> you can put a half or a quarter of the aircraft in jeopardy of burning up on that plane just because you have stopped to get your bag. >> reporter: it's happened before. passengers grabbed their carry on when a plane crashed in san francisco, when an american plane caught fire in chicago. today planes are stuffed with carry-ons as passengers try to avoid paying for checked bags. >> the briefcase, the books, clothes, none of that is important

let's bring in tom costello. >> tom? >> reporter: good afternoon.et me give you a sense, obviously, very early in terms of figuring out the extent of the injuries and damage. i got off the phone with the ntsb. they would respond in the event of a significant injury -- or significant issue, i should say, in an accident. they are aware, of course, of what's going on. they have not yet mobilized a go team. that could come and i frankly would expect it to come. also talked to the federal railroad administration. they, too, say they are gathering information and they may well, i would expect them to respond as well. they are learning of this as the information comes across largely from us, from cable tv and immediate news sources. amtrak at this moment is not yet giving us a sense of what has transpired but we are -- actually, as i say that, just now an e-mail from amtrak, let me read it to you. an amtrak train came into contact with a vehicle that was on the tracks at 11:20 a.m. eastern time at crow's head, virginia. no injuries to passengers or crew me

nbc tom costello is some people may want to double-check their company's math. that's ahead, next on nightly news. >>> now to the foreign intelligence surveillance act, also known as fisa, the intelligence community considers fisa an essential element of national defense. overnight, the white house released a statement in support of today's renewal vote. so, it caused some turmoil this morning when president trump sent out a tweet that slammed the law. blayne alexander is at the white house to pickup the story from there. kind of confusing, blayne. >> reporter: you know what, that's what a lot of people said today, that this caused a lot of confusion. doreen, you just mentioned among the intelligence community, and lawmakers in both parties agree fisa is a necessity. but the tweet this morning from president trump caused some to ask whether the president fully understood today's vote. >> 256, the nays 164. >> reporter: the house today easily passing a measure to renew fisa. the federal surveillance program terrorists and foreign criminals. >> the bill is passed.

nbc's tom costello is going to have much more on this coming up tonight on nbc nightly news with lesterned for that. back to you guys in the studio. >> all right, thank you, erika. >> thank you, erika. >> today on capitol hill, a vote to renew the federal sur ray lance program known as fisa. >> it started off with behind the scenes confusion after a tweet from president trump. blayne alexander at the white house to unpack all this for us. hi, blayne. >> reporter: leon, it is agreed in the intelligence community fisa is a necessity. but that early morning tweet from president trump has some asking today whether the president fully understood today's vote. >> 256, the nays, 164. >> reporter: the house today easily passing a measure to renew fisa, the federal surveillance program used to target suspected terrorists and foreign criminals. >> the bill is passed. >> reporter: but vote, a behind the scenes scramble after the president called fisa controversial, suggesting it was used to spy on his campaign. the confusion forcing a quick clean up. chief of staff kelly dispatched to the hill to

the paper says the lane would be available going eastbound from tom costello p.m. until 7:00 p.m. every day. once the lane does open, the speed limit on the bridge will drop for everyone. it will go from 55 miles per hour to 50 miles an hour. >>> back to our microclimate weather alert, with rain comes the snow, but hopefully this comes with help of a sparse sierra snow pack. it's only 3% normal this year. the most snow is expected to fall near yosemite. be careful if you're driving up there. >> it's tough when they're measuring and you see more brown than the white. >> that's what we are seeing right now. this is a warmer storm, at least to start, so it's going to bring in more rain and only the very high sierra is going to get snow at this point. i wanted to show you what it looks like, looking at north star at about 6300 feet and it's raining there. we have some rain in squaw valley. look at that temperature, 41 degrees. so, unfortunately, rain now but hopefully this will tail off as some light snow. we will see that wrapping up as the system moves off towards the east. we see a

tom costello is in washington. tom, this could be big. >> it could be very big. amazon has blown up the way we all shop every day, even do our grocery shopping. with insurance drepremiums up 1 what will amazon and two partners do to control the cost of health care? think for a minute about the combination. one of the biggest banks and biggest bankers, one of the biggest investors, who is also a billionaire, and another billionaire, who runs amazon, a technology and shopping disrupter. all three combining forces to take on one of the country's biggest challenges, the skyrocketing costs of health care. >> these it looks like a lot of fun, which is what some advocacy groups say is a problem. >> we thought it was an opportunity to be a harmful thing for children. >> reporter: more than 100 organizations and individuals said that messenger kids is not responding to a need. it is creating one. facebook sid messenger kids is directly based on child online safety. >> they're using the technologies already. and what we heard from parents is they want a way to control that

nbc's tom costello has been covering this story from the start. good morning. how about this? >> reporter: yeah, absolutely. it'll be four years in march since all 239 people on board this flight went missing on a red eye from kuala lumpur to beijing. now that u.s. company, ocean infinity, has accepted the to $70 million, to find the remains of the plane. there's a catch. the company won't get a penny of the reward unless it finds the full wreckage of the plane or its black boxes. the company says it can do it all with just one ship. this morning, an american ship is on its way to the indian ocean, hoping to solve the mystery of mh-370. the commercial jet missing since march 2014. investigators in both the u.s. and asia are simply baffled. satellite transmission showed the plane made an unexpected u-turn and flew south, leading to the largest search in aviation history. taking three years and $160 million. so now, what makes a texas company, ocean infinity, think it can find the remains of the plane in just 90 days with only one ship? >> drones if you like. >> reporter: eight

there we find tom costello. he covers aviation. reagan international for us. high, tom, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. when was the last time you saw reagan airport look like this. there's nobody here to speak of. that's because as you know the airport is all about serving the east coast and we have so many flight cancellations already, but look at charleston's airport. overnight, they have long, long lines with half their flights now canceled for t we have 3,000 flight cancellations already. that number will grow. on top of many yesterday. look at the flight of misery map. this is a live look at the most affected airports. all highlighted in red. the northeast, upper right corner is really the most affected and now the list of cancellations at airports, newark, 72% of flights canceled as of this moment. boston same number. also laguardia, jfk. about 27% now. that number will grow through the day. and philadelphia also on the list. i can tell you they're very concerned about tomorrow. likely to see flight cancellations extending into tomorrow. especia

tom costello has the latest. what happened here? >> reporter: i arrived on an international flight eastern time. it took two hours to get the system back up and running normally. nothing to indicate this was a hack or attack. but it caused major delays and frustrations as travelers arrived back in the state from that busy holiday. it was a holiday headache, for travelers headed home on new year's day, after a glitch in customs and border protection computers created long wait times. frustrated passengers posting long lines in miami, jfk, atlanta and san diego. the two-hour outage leaving the computers processing technology unable to recognize who was a citizen, a resident or a visitor. forcing traveler like this couple in dallas, to abandon the self-serve computers and go through an immigration officer. >> one wasn't printing the receipt. it was just -- one was speaking german and that's it. it was crazy. >> rep saying they do not know what caused the glitch. but there's no indication the service disruption was malicious in nature.

tom costello is in washington where the secret service is heading up that investigation. tom, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. this technique has already been used in other countries around the world. it's called jackpoting. and now federal law enforcement is putting the nation's banks on notice that the threat has come to the united states. this morning an urgent warning from the secret service and the companies that make most of the atms in the country. criminal hackers are targeting cash machines in a scheme known as jackpoting. the criminals override an atm and turn it into a sort of slot machine rapidly spitting out cash, up to 40 bills every 23 seconds. >> the types of atmts being hit are typically one-off machines you find in a convenient store. >> reporter: the secret service says criminals range from individual suspects to large organized groups, from local criminals to international organized crime syndicates. the stolen cash isn't coming out of your personal bank accounts, just the machines themselves, so the banks are the victims, though experts warn th

tom costello is back at reagan national with more on all this. hey, tom. >> reporter: 5,500 flights canceled yesterday. at the moment, aerowe're up to 0 today, too. these boards look better than yesterday. come outside and look at the ramp at reagan national airport. they cleared the snow and the ice. they're pack back to normal her that's not the case across much of the country. this morning, wind, ice and snow, the worst possible combination, that's still crippling air travel along the east coast, as airports and airlines dig out from the whiteout that's left tens of thousands of passengers stranded. >> they don't call them nor'easters anymore. this is a cyclone? >> reporter: new york's big three airports shut down for most of thursday. >> here we are, newark airport. this is what it looks like outside. >> reporter: with passengers taking to social media to vent, no florida for me, wrote one traveler stranded at la guardia. and dozens of national flights with passengers headed to new york and boston, diverted to airports outside of the storm zon

. >> tom costello, thank you. >>> a lot more to get to this morning, including fresh controversies for the president. the russia scandal back in the headlines. amid a report that the president lobbied for attorney general jeff sessions to remain in charge of the russia investigation. this as the war of words grows over "fire and fury," that exkhloe siee explosive new book aboue president's first ye in the office. first, nbc national peter alexander at the white house with all of it. good morning. >> reporter: cold even in the frigid weather, people were lining up overnight to get their hands on this book. how is this for a marketing line. the book the president doesn't want you to read. let's start with new reporting. "new york times" revealing how far he went trying to stop attorney general jeff sessions from recusing himself in the russia investigation. raising the question whether the president obstructed the president's inquiry. >> new this morning "new york times" reporting that the president gave strict instructions to the white house's top lawyer last march to pressure attorney

nbc's tom costello covers aviation at reagan national. tom, good morning. >> good morning and good morning west coast. if you've ever flown into washington, d.c. airports you know this is unusual. hardly anybody here because so many flights are canceled up and down the east coast. contrast that, though, with charleston, south carolina, and look at the lines at the airports because they've already had five inches of snow in charleston, south carolina and as a result the runways are closed there. system wide we've got 3100 flights canceled today. look at the flight aware misery map. as you would expect, the misery is in the northeast from maine down through boston down to new york, the major airports significantly delayed today. we'll look at cancellations and if you're flying into the east coast today, tomorrow or sunday you'll watch this today 73% of flights canceled at newark, boston, laguardia 65%, jfk 28%, philadelphia is out there as well. you probably don't worry too much about amtrak but amtrak affected as well on the east coast from

tom costello is in washington for us with that story. what happened here? that. i arrived on an international flight in the afternoon. no trouble at all. the problems, though, began at 7:30 eastern time. it took about two hours to get the system back up and running normally. so far nothing to indicate this was any sort of malicious attack or hack, but it was enough to cause major delays and frustrations as travellers arrived back in the states from that busy holiday. >> reporter: it was a holiday headache from travellers headed home on new year's day after a glitch in the u.s. customs and border protection computers created long wait times at airports nationwide. frustrated passengers posting photos of long lines at airports in miami, j.f.k. at new york city, atlanta, seattle, and san diego. the two-hour outage leaving the computers processing technology unable to recognize who was a u.s. citizen, a resident, or just a visitor. forcing travellers like this couple in dallas to abtd the self-serve computers and go through an immigration officer instead. >> on