sending state employees home early. just to give awn idea of the preparations there. here in new york where we are seeing about 300 salt spreaders out on the roads, trying to get ahead of the storm, about a thousand snowplows standing by, as well as people at the stores buying up snow shelves, food, water, preparing to hunker down as long as they immediate to weather out this storm. officials warning people to stay off the roads. they say that if you do have to go out there, be sure to pack extra supplies and flashlights, food, water. just be prepared in case you get stranded overnight. port authorities staffing extra people. trying to keep the bridges and tunnels open and the trains running. right now the big takeaway from this is if you don t have to be outside, stay inside. back to you. get your mittens out. thank you. after the break, more an dozen states kick off 2014 with minimum wage increases. can congress follow suit and get it down at the federal level?