World headquarters in new york this is nbc nightly news with brian williams. Good evening. The weather has turned serious tonight. A big area coming in to stay. It will stretch so far west east and so deep into the south that tonight the estimate is most of the country, 240 Million People will be affected by this. One example, chicago may not reach a high of zero tomorrow. The wind chill map alone is rather chilling. And aside from the cold as well hear in a moment there are troubles in the west as well. First tonight we begin with nbcs Kevin Tibbles in chicago. Kevin, good evening. Reporter brian, much of america remains hunkered down tonight as this dangerous swath of arctic air continues to push further and further south, and it doesnt seem to be going anywhere for a couple of days. Already here in chicago, some 80 schools have announced theyll be closed tomorrow. For some 200 million americans, today was an arctic trudge. Blowing snow and bone chilling temperatures. Pennsylvania roads became skating rinks. Soon filled with sliding cars and multiple crashes. Accidents, too, some fatal, from iowa to indiana. Whiteouts and car crashes became synonymous. Here in chicago, there are 300,000 Passenger Rail trips per day. Frozen switches would cause travel chaos. Rail crews light gas heater fires to keep them thawed out. These things freeze up what happens to the trains . They stop running, so we pretty much have to monitor the switches 24 hours 7 days a week. Reporter washington, d. C. Awoke to about sirks inches of snow in some areas. Still, most schools remained open and more than a dozen bus accidents were reported. The white house a picturesque snow globe. A big whiteout in new york too. Here in Central New York up to three feet of snow is possible in some areas by the end of the week but the big story is the cold. Highs wednesday will barely hit zero with wind chills at 15 and 25 below. Reporter and its pushing south. Temperatures dropping dramatically in little rock amarillo and raleigh. Good news for consumers, though lower fuel prices should translate into lower home heating costs. In ohio many schools closed for the deep freeze. Still, winter storm and wind chill warnings remain in effect through thursday. Kevin tibbles, nbc news chicago. Im Miguel Almaguer in washington, where out west the problem is too much rain. Hillsides have come crashing down. This massive mud slide sweeping at least six houses right off their foundations. This family was home when their living room was washed into the middle of the avenue. They have a few scrapes, but they made it out alive, so thats a miracle. Reporter with up to nine inches of rain pounding the region monday rivers burst their banks, leaving some homes flooded while streets and highways are closed cracked and crumbled. The Snoqualmie Falls is cascading at three times its normal rate. Too much water too fast. Even the wildlife trapped. All of a sudden its just all hell broke loose and everybodys calling, get out. We could hear everything falling down. Reporter the massive cleanup will take week maybe months. The police chief took us along a logging road to reach this neighborhood of 200 people cut off from town. The waterlogged hill still threatening. Two homes in this neighborhood are literally teetering on the edge. Theyve both been condemned. Its a 2,000foot slide to the bottom of this hill. They could be the next to go. Allison fleury lives right next door. Its scary. Its devastating. I feel so bad for these people that are hanging on the edge. Reporter tonight, this devastating storm has moved on. The skies may be clear but the danger here is far from over. While this region is used to rain what happened here is historic. This storm is so powerful, it ripped homes apart, pushed this one 40 feet off its foundation into the middle of the street and when you see all of this destruction, brian, its incredible to know not a Single Person was seriously injured. Covering the two extremes tonight, Michael AlmaguerKevin Tibbles. We thank you both. Were following a developing situation out of ft. Bliss in el paso texas. The base and the v. A. Medical center there are on lockdown as the army deals with what authorities call an active shooter situation at the medical center. Our pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski is telling us both military and civilian Police Forces were engaged in a standoff with whats believed to be a single gunman. There are no initial reports of any injuries or possible hostage taking. As details continue to come in tonight from ft. Bliss in texas. A major shift took place in washington today. Republicans have officially taken control of both houses of congress with john boehner reelected house speaker, though not without some trouble from his right flank. And the Washington Post has compiled these stats about your new congress. It is 80 white, 80 male and 92 of its members are christian. We get our report on day one tonight from nbcs kelly odonnell. Reporter a january chill on day one. Morning flurries greeted the senates new boss republican Mitch Mcconnell at home. While the sound of a power tool at his office made the power shift official. Behind the scenes the house speakers leather chair glided toward the chamber. Missing today altogether a battered harry reid visited by Top Senate Democrats after being injured in a home accident. I didnt go bull riding. I wasnt riding a motorcycle. I was exercising in my new home. Reporter a different kind of bruising awaited john boehner today. A small but noisy conservative rebellion of two dozen republicans attempted to knock him out as speaker, but in a dramatic floor vote boehner had more than enough support to keep the gavel. Mr. Speaker. Reporter that conservative opposition remains a thorny on obstacle to boehners leadership. As speaker, all i ask and all i respect is that we disagree without being disagreeable. Reporter today was all about ceremony and spectacle. The speaker zipped back and forth to appear in hundreds of official member photos and Vice President joe biden swore in the new class of senators. In the biden way, he hugged and mugged for Senate Family selfies and even called the grandmother of colorado republican cory gardner. Betty, how are you . My name is joe biden, Vice President biden, how are you doing . Reporter getting down to business republicans vowed to quickly pass the keystone ill pipeline project that environmentalists oppose setting up a showdown with the white house which says the president will block that with his veto power. Kelly odonnell on the hill for us thanks. Across this country, while gas prices have been very easy to take of late the bigger story of plummeting oil prices hasnt been all good news. The dow has dropped 461 points in just these last two days and plummeting Energy Prices are a big reason for whats happening to wall street. And while people are saving money in the shortterm it could cause some hurt in the long run. We get our report tonight from nbcs tom costello. Reporter from coast to coast its the talk at the tank. 46 of the countrys stations are now selling gas for 2 or less. The price is so low, unbelievable. That commute would really hurt my pocket. Hopefully i can take this 2 a gallon now. Reporter now selling at 50 a barrel a 5 1 2year low. The typical familiar will save 500 to 700 a year. Blame it on the oil glut with saudi arabia refusing to turn off the spigot. The lower prices have pulled down Oil Company Stocks hurting 401 k and retirement accounts. Analysts and traders alike think that saudi is playing a xwam of chicken with the u. S. Theyre willing to see oil prices go down to 10 20 a barrel and they can sustain it more than we can. Reporter saudi arabia can afford to force prices even lower. It cost the saudis only 10 to 17 to produce a barrel of oil. It costs russia 15 to 25. But it costs the u. S. 50 to 75 to produce a barrel from the new oil shale fields. Now the very jobs created in the american boom are on the line. At this point tense of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of jobs are at risk because Oil Producing companies cannot make money at the price at which oil is trading now. Reporter its a big tradeoff, a sort of International Price war leading to low are pump prices but the potential for big layoffs in the very industry that helped america wean itself from foreign oil. Tom costello alexandria virginia. Less than three weeks after two Police Officers were murdered here in new york city two other officers are in the hospital following a shooting overnight. Rather than uniting the department and the Mayors Office in some sort of solidarity this new incident will likely do little to end the bad blood between them even as investigators track down the suspect. Our report tonight from nbcs rehema ellis. Reporter police say the massive man hunt paid off with two men now in custody, one of them allegedly captured on a restaurant surveillance camera opening fire on the two plainclothes officers responding to a robbery call. He said it just missed the spine and didnt hit any organs. Reporter the new york city Police Officers are recovering but not the growing rift between the nations Largest Police force and its mayor. Officers believing mayor bill de blasio sides with antilaw enforcement protests. The rift between the mayor and the Police Department do you take a side in that issue . Im taking the nypds side. Im supporting 100 . You really cant blame the mayor for anything. Hes there to do a job. Reporter some turned their backs on him during the funerals of two officers gunned down two weeks ago. Now new statistics show a dramatic drop in Police Activity for two consecutive weeks compared to last year. Summonses for crimes plunged 90 , the number of ars are down 56 . The patrolmens Association Distance any deliberate police slowdown. The calls coming in reporting crimes are down fairly dramatically during this last couple week period of time. So were not in a Public Safety crises. Reporter experts say the situation may get worse before it gets better. Both groups both the head of the unions and the mayor, they have to kind of back off this and stop fighting this fight on the front page of the newspaper. Reporter its tension thats most public in new york city but its also present in other communities nationwide. Rehema ellis, nbc news new york. One of the political icons of the latter half of the last century was laid to rest today. Funeral services were held for mayor mario cuomo. They welcomed mourners who included bill and Hillary Clinton and attorney general eric holder paying their respects. Cuomo has been remembered as a lion of liberalism. He died on new years day at the age of 82. Still ahead on our broadcast for a tuesday night, the major Motion Picture that shows us the new face of alzheimers. An extraordinary new role for Julianne Moore and its powerful message on screen. A spectacular climb among the hardest ever attempted with millions of people glued to every upward move. Your eyes really are unique. 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Yeah, i get that a lot. Alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews. Enjoy the relief. Man when i got shingles it was something awful. It was like being blindsided by some linebacker. You dont see it coming. Boom if youve had chicken pox that shingles virus is already inside of you. It aint pretty when it comes out. Now im not telling you this so that youll feel sorry for me. Im just here to tell you that one out of three people are gonna end up getting shingles. I was one of em. So please go talk to your doctor or pharmacist. A movie is on its way to theaters now that will make a lot of people think and it may scare a lot of families. Its called still alice and its about alzheimers disease, the early onset variety, that strikes people in the prime of their careers. Theres talk of an oscar nomination for its star Julianne Moore and the film is a passion project for one of its producer maria shriver, who, of course watched her own father Sargent Shriver slip away in the clutches of alzheimers. Tonight maria reports for us on the telling of this story. Reporter think alzheimers and you probably dont picture Julianne Moore. And everything i worked for in my entire life is going. Reporter but in her new film still alice, she plays a wife mother and College Professor who at just 50 years old is diagnosed with the disease. Into a alzheimers doesnt present in any particular way. That people who have alzheimers look just like everybody else. Reporter the film based on the bestselling book tells the story of 5. 2 million americans living with alzheimers. 200,000 have early onset which strikes as young as your 30s. Were struggling but were living. Reporter sandy was diagnosed at just 45. Losing her job and savings to pay for medical bills. Now 50 she fights memory loss by writing everything in a journal. Some days i dont think theres anything wrong, and other days theres so many words going around in my head and i want one to drop thats the right one and it doesnt. Its very frustrating. Reporter sandy, was julieannes consultant on film. I didnt want to represent anything on screen that i havent seen in real life. Reporter though alzheimers is one of the top ten deadliest diseases funding for research is a fraction of that for cancer and heart disease. Its the only one in the top ten without a cure a way to prevent it or even a way to delay or slow it down. I dont know who i am. A lot of people are comparing this to philadelphia, what philadelphia did for aids still alice can potentially do for alzheimers. Unfortunately its a disease thats not able to be treated properly right now. But hopefully we can put that awareness out there. Reporter her performance bringing new attention to a devastating disease. Maria shriver, nbc news los angeles. And we are back in a moment with the new members who have been added to the list of the great es of all time. Also we may have found the place where they had the most fun in todays east coast snowstorm. Music. 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A happy image to share tonight from houston, texas, where we are proud to count among our loyal viewers a couple celebrating their 70th anniversary today. Former president george h. W. Bush and former first lady barbara bush. They long ago became the longest married couple in u. S. History. A photo sent out of them today is the first glimpse weve had of 41 since his hospitalization over the holidays. Were happy to see him home and back in the game. For the first time in 60 years baseball writers have voted in a group four new members to the Baseball Hall of fame in cooperstown. Three are pitchers with nine cy youngs between them. Big unit randy johnson, Pedro Martinez and john smoltz will join craig biggio. Theyll be inducted in july. Bernard jordan has died. He came to fame this past summer when he went missing at his assisted living facility in the uk. Turns out he conspired with a friend to bust out of there and travel to france because he was a british navy veteran and he felt that he belonged with his mates to mark the 70th normandy invasion. He returned home and admitted to being secretive. It earned him the title the great escaper. Bernard jordan was 90 years old. Various black and white animals in the snow are getting heavy rotation on the web starting with bo obama as the streets of washington got enough snow to make people abandon their cars today. But across town at the washington zoo, there was this. The first snow for 16monthold baby bao bao, the panda baby roundly described by her trainers as sassy. She seemed to be having a blast in the first really decent snowfall of the winter season. When we come back two men using only their hands and feet tonight trying to survive what has been called the toughest vertical climb in the world. woman the constipation and belly pain feel like a knot. How can i ease this pain . man when i cant go, its like bricks piling up. I wish i could find some relief. announcer ask your doctor about linzess a oncedaily capsule for adults with ibs with constipation or chronic idiopathic constipation. Linzess is thought to help calm painsensing nerves and accelerate bowel movements. It helps you proactively manage your symptoms. Do not give linzess to children under 6, and it should not be given to children 6 to 17. It may harm them. Dont take linzess if you have a bowel blockage. Get immediate help if you develop unusual or severe stomach pain especially with bloody or black stools the most common side effect is diarrhea, sometimes severe. If its severe stop taking linzess and call your doctor right away. Other side effects include gas stomacharea pain and swelling. Bottom line, ask your doctor about linzess today. Working on my feet all day made my lower back really hurt. I had to work through my knee pain. My foot pain, it kept coming back until i found custom fit orthotic inserts at this free dr. Scholls foot mapping center. Now they give me immediate pain relief. In less than two minutes i got my footmap and custom number. Im a 440. 330. 210. It matched the inserts with the right support for me. Now i get immediate relief from my foot pain. My knee pain. My lower back pain. Find a machine at drscholls. Com and save 10 dollars. Weve chosen to end the broadcast tonight with a story of perseverance. Quite literally the story of man versus mountain. In this case two men attempt to freeclimb the famously steep face of el capitan, a massive chunk of rock in yosemite. The ropes youre going to see in this next story arent being used to climb the mountain. They are there in case the climbers fall. Here is the mountain face and here right about there, is where the climbers are right now tonight. They are climbing with their hands and feet and its a feat that requires tremendous courage and heart and brains. We get their story tonight from nbcs hallie jackson. Reporter most of us experience yosemites wall from the bottom where we look at it. Tommy caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson are living on it. Piece of cake. Right, tommy . No problem. We got this. Reporter the two friends now on day nine of their attempt to be the first to finish the hardest free climb in the world. Ropes only there in case they fall which they do as they inch up the walls granite face as high as two empire state buildings and nearly as smooth. Wenling their finkgertips into tiny razor blade crevices climbing at night so their skin doesnt rip quite as much dodging falling ice and wind. Its like living in a refrigerator. Weve got hard boiled eggs. Reporter but at least that means fresh food. Pretty good eating up here. Reporter they carry bathroom bags with them on the climb, do yoga in their tents and because this remote part of yosemite happens to have great cell reception, they tweet, facebook instagram, nearly everything. 3,000 people following on the journey, the two tackling the hardest part of the ascent. Tommy totally crested. It was the smoothest ive ever seen him climb. Reporter kevin is not far behind. Were not going to be happy unless both of them make this climb. Reporter tommy and his father have been climbing since he was 3. And dad says if they can make it through this theyll be on the home stretch to the peak of el capitan. This has been a big part of our lives for eight years. There will be serious celebration. Reporter but for the climbers its not about being at the top, just getting there. Hallie jackson, nbc news los angeles. Thats our broadcast on a tuesday night. Thank you for being here with us. Im brian williams. We hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. Good night. Cameron diaz married. The first photos from her starpacked wedding. Now on extra. Inside cameron and benjis allstar i dos. Gwyneth, drew reese. The alist guests arriving at her Beverly Hills mansion. Every detail today from camerons Wedding Dress snafu. To how how they kept the ceremony a secret. More breaking couples news. Blake lively and Ryan Reynolds welcome their baby and its a Teresa Giudices first 24 hours in prison. Has she flipped any tables . Charlie sheen versus kim kardashian. Why charlies ranting on kim, on kim, calling her gross. And why he just pulled an abrupt 180. Kaley Cuoco Sweeting takes on the rumors about my nose job did she or didnt she have Plastic Surgery . And wrinkles belly flab. How the starrings are getting lastminute tweaks for sundays golden globes. Plus the new bachelors here with a morning after confession. Pregnancy tests . Whats that all about . This is extra at Universal Studios hollywood, the entertainment capital of