people in vermont are digging out from a record snowfall, a whopping 32 inches of snow accumulated in south burlington, setting an all-time record for one snowstorm. is not over yet. the area is expected to get a few more inches before morning. that is pretty incredible. >> it keeps things in perspective. we had a lot of snow here that melted quickly. the wind is finally beginning to subside, so some good news on the way. the advisory for them immediate metro area has expired. a cold night ahead, but western maryland is full of winter conditions. we will talk about that in just a second. you can see the flag blowing. the wind chill factor built like to degrees below zero in germantown at this hour. they had a daytime high of only 20. it feels like 3 degrees in upper northwest the sea. -- nw dc. 28 degrees at reagan national airport. when gusts up 46 miles per hour this afternoon. it will diminish in the overnight hours, but we will have a cold temperatures in the forecast for the next several days. 26 degrees in richmond, 15 in pittsburg. cleveland is looking at 21 degrees. minneapoli

a whopping $25 a week for entertainment. good thing you have all that equipment at home. eighteen dollars and seventy five cents for clothing and gifts and $15.50 for other. are you ready for your first challenge? >> yeah. >> who knows what i'm going to do to you, right? but i'm out to get you now, right? you know that. for this couple, there $68,000 of debt is the elephant in the room that david refuses to talk about. i'm gonna make sure they can't ignore it any longer. >> oh, my god! >> elephants. >> welcome to your debt reduction challenge. a lot of elephants in the room. >> yeah. you actually have to live with these elephants in your room until your debts paid off. see each of them has an amount and when you pay off $200, you find the $200 balloon and you kill your debt. >> all right. >> i think the challenge for him seeing all the elephants in the room, i think that was a shocker. i'm sad to tell you, i can't balance your budget and get the debt paid off. you have to find a way to make another $1,200 a month just to balance the budget. oh, mister, we can do this no p

the family we first met last october after they climbed out of a whopping $123,000 of debt. >> this beautiful little victorian i got at a craft store. but on an after-christmas sale. i probably got it 65%, 70% off for her. >> reporter: this year they survived the holiday shopping debt free. the kids still got stocking stuffers but candy didn't spend more than $30 on each. one tip, thrift store shopping. how much would you pay for one of these turtlenecks? >> lowest price right now is $2.99 to $3.99. >> reporter: another cost, is baking cookies or singing christmas carols at a local nursing home instead of expensive 408 day entertainment. just one year ago russell hindbrant was working a second job as a night janitor, sleeping in his car to save on gas money. candy stretched their dollar with cheap meals. today they're finishing the last of the hash browns that got them through the worst of it. >> the rahash browns were part your strategy. >> absolutely. this was pretty much a mainstay, when there wasn't any extra money for groceries. hash browns for breakfast, as a side dish for dinner. as yo

the family we fert met last october after he climb out of a whopping $123,000 of debt. >> this beautifuln i got at a craft store, but on an after-christmas sale. i probably gout it 65%, 70% off for her. >> reporter: this year they survived holiday shopping debt-free. the kids still got stocking stuffers but candy didn't spend more than $30 on each. one tip, thift store shopping. >> how much you pay for one of these turtle necks? >> the low price going now about $. 9 to $3.99. >> reporter: another way to keep costs down, focusing on family traditions like baking cookies or singing christmas cares at a local nursing home instead of expensive holiday entertainment. just one year ago russell was working a second job as a night janitor, sleeping in his car to save on gas money. candy stretched their dollar with cheap meals opinion today their finishing the last of the hash browns that got them through the worst of it. the hash browns were part of your strategy for when you were desperate, really saving money? >> absolutely. pretty much a mainstay when there wasn't extra money for groceri groc

people are worried the government money is going to go to a bunch of people whop don't qualify. this is a good limitation here and second it means once you qualify you don't have to spend all your time in a little white room making those calls. you're still allowed to raise contributions up to $100 but as a congressman mentioned you're not calling to california to get $100. you can ask people who never had a chance to contribute to elections ever before and we've heard that from maine, arizona, connecticut where this law's already in place there for judicial election ins north carolina and certain election ins new mexico and a lot of people say wow, i gay $5, i'm a part of the political process. it's not just the people who write the $4800 checks, everybody matters. i think it change it is way we govern and citizens year 2000 in the state of maine when we started this where there was a little bit of skepticism in the beginning but a tremendous part of support we now have over 80% of our state legislature republicans and democrats. nott partner people have come to understand. it'

rick warren's plea for donations to fill a $900,000 deficit brought in a whopping $2.4 million. three days later he reached the $2.4 million mark and donations are still coming in. didn't even have to pass the plate. it's 17 past the hour, that's the news. let's send it back over to lester, jenna and >> is cold out there. even with sunny skies it feels like 0. even with sunny skies it feels like 0. we will probably pick up a for 12 years. >>> now here's jenna. >> all right, janice, thanks. we'll be right back with more of "today" right after this. ...kept coming back... ...or that i could help prevent them in the first place. the problem was that my controller medicine... ...was treating only 1 main cause of asthma symptoms. but there are 2. airway constriction. and inflammation. unlike most controllers, advair treats both main causes. advair treats both main causes. and that helps prevent symptoms in the first place. (announcer) advair contains salmeterol. salmeterol may increase the chance of asthma-related death. so advair is not for asthma that's well controlled on another c

the the nasdaq rose a whopping 44% last year. let's see if we can do it again. >>> fed chairman ben bernanke says lax regulation was more to blame for the housing market bubble and the financial crisis than low interest rates. critics blame the fed for feeding the speculative housing boom by holding rates too low after the 2001 recession, but bernanke says extra-low rates were needed to jump start the economy and job market after 9/11 and the accounting scandals and worldcom both really rocked wall street. and americans spent more money going to the movies last year than watching dvds at home. it's the first time it's happened since 2002. hollywood earned a record $10.6 billion last year, and that's thanks to blockbusters like "avatar," which has just become only the fifth movie to top $1 billion worldwide. and they did it pretty quickly. i guess if i want to see it, i better get in line. back to you both in d.c. >> i'm with you, courtney. got to go see that one. >> thanks very much, courtney. have a great day. >> thank you, you

rick warren's plea for donations to fill a $900,000 deficit broughtn a whopping $2.4 million. three days later he reached the $2.4 million mark and donations are still coming in. didn't even have to pass the plate. it's 17 past the hour, that's the news. let's send it back over to lester, jenna and janice. >> he's like wait a minute. maybe that's how we get rid of the deficit. >> ron, thanks. janice is back with our national forecast. >> we've alrve already talked a all the cold weather that's in place. now we'll give you a look at your local forecast. northern tier of states will not reach highs out of the single digits. in parts of minnesota and the dakotas, 9 degrees today in bismarck and 3 above in minneapolis. that's your high for today. it will reach 16 degrees in for 12 years. >>> now here's jenna. >> all right, janice, thanks. we'll be right back with more of "today" right after this. ...kept coming back... ...or that i could help prevent them in the first place. the problem was that my controller medicine... ...was treating only 1 main cause of asthma symptoms. but th

was hiding somewhere and alan wasn't getting his back, a lesson he learned earlier when he got a whopping from his father when they were kids. walking back from school to a kid had come up to ronnie and told him he wanted to fight. ronnie handed alan his books and told him to go home. when he got they're the father, who worked in midnight shift as a janitor, was wearing his usual slippers, smoking a cigarette and having his coffee and a ford motor company cut. where's your brother, he asked alan. he's going to fight a kid, he shrugged. without changing shoes he ran out smacking him with slippers as the cannon that door to read the father then looked at alan and said come here. what, alan protested. he knew he was going to get it. i didn't defeat could didn't fight. he got worse than his brother. don't ever leave your brother alone in a fight. get in your room. in the south and they were all like brothers and had one another's back. it was a kind of place if one of the guys can to the pool hall and said someone was about to jump than the other guys would go no questions asked. when raviv v

the associated press says his mega church in southern california has raised, get this, a whopping $2.4 more than enough to cover the church's $9,000 deficit and more is expected to roll in. he made his plea nor donations online. >>> the failed bombing attempt christmas day has put our visa application process under a whole lot of scrutiny, but getting permission to come into the united states is still a hot ticket in many countries. >> yeah, sandra endu takes a look at the process of deciding who comes in and who is kept out. >> reporter: foreign entry into the united states, how difficult is it to get an admission ticket to america? citizens in 35 countries don't even need a visa to gain entry as part of the wee sa waiver program that allows them a maximum 90-day stay, but those from other countries, travelers must apply for specific visas. there are temporary visas for tourists, business travelers, short-term employment and students. each visa-type allows a person to stay in america for different lengths of time. longer term zee visa applicants need to show strong originen and an int

in spain, the under 25 is at a whopping 43.8%.employment because of shy job security in that country. but as we see in recent times, over the last couple years the youth unemployment situation in france has led to riots. so it is a dangerous situation if you look at it from that perspective. but growth is back. there is concern over the coming months in 2010 there will be even higher unemployment in the eur o-zone. >> we are getting the urgent wires coming across. wthis is early information crossing the urgent wires. we have no idea why this is happening, but as soon as we find out why they are evacuating union station in d.c., the national desk is work on that. we'll bring it to you coming up on the live desk. how going green is causing a traffic nightmare in some parts of the country. peter doocy is live in evanston, illinois. >> what does it mean when the traffic signal is white? i'll tell you about a dangerous problem that could be facing drivers across the country this winter coming up next. trace: you may have seen the new t

fighting somewhere now and alan wasn't getting his back to a lesson he learned early when he got a whopping from his father when the then kids. walking back from selling an elementary school a decade before, a kid had run up to romney and told him he wanted to fight. radhi handed alan his books and told him to take them home. when he got there, his father who worked the midnight shift of four as a janitor was waiting wearing his slippers, swearing to lead to smoking the cigarette and having a coffee in his cup. where's your brother he asked. he's going to fight a kid, he shrugged. without changing the father ran out and came back with ronnie smacking him with his slippers became in the back door to read their father then looked at alan and said come here. what, alan protested. he knew he was going to get it. i didn't fight, he then got worse than romney. don't ever let your brother fight and you leave him alone your father said, now get up in your room. in the south and they were like brothers and they all had one another's back. it was a kind of place where if one of the guys can to the po

even adding in the ft for the learning lab, the capital investment and so on, we still delivered a whopping16.2 billion in savings from moving to more of a hybrid. an example of this is rocketship education in san jose. hybrid model 100 minutes a day. $500,000 savings per school, and the third highest scores in the state for demographically similar schools. next, unpopular but essential. we've got to stop this practice of having five or 10 percent of the teachers in the district be teachers that no one wants in their schools. and usually superintendents rotate them precisely across the school so no one is burdened too much by them. this is an obscenity, of course. and we have to do something about it. so this would save six-point $4 million from that. underperforming teachers to the obstacle has been it so expensive to do anything about it. the first step is to turn to mckinsey or an organization like that to put in place a meaningful assessment system. so in chicago, we have .3 percent of teachers are rated unsatisfactory. this is not the real world. some people teaching is their calling,

the amortization of the capital investment and so then, we still deliver a whopping 16.2 million in savingsfrom moving to more of a hybrid model. an example of this is rocketship education in san jose. $500,000 savings per school and the third highest scores in the state for demographically similar schools. next, unpopular but essential. we've got to stop this practice of having 5 or 10% of the teachers in the district be teachers that no one wants in their schools. and usually superintendents rotate them precisely the schools so no one is burdened too much by them. this is an obscenity, of course. and we have to do something about it. and so this would save $6.4 million from that. underperforming teachers, you know, the obstacle has been it's so expensive to do anything about it. the first step is to turn to a mckinsey organization and put in place a meaningful assessment system. in chicago, you know, we have .3% of teachers are rated unsatisfactory. this is not the real world. some people teaching is their calling and for others it isn't. and we need to face up to the actual situation. an