"early today" starts right now. good morning. i'm paige hopkins. finally relief on the way. 21 people have died as the polar vortex blanketed the u.s. shadowing the record books with record temperatures. it was below freezing somewhere in each of the 50 states tuesday, yes even in hawaii. an estimated 190 million people faced the icy blast head on. so did pets. it's a reminder to not leave them outside. this guy peanut was frozen to the ground in mississippi when it reached-4 this week. he's okay now. the record cold even made the small town of hell, michigan froze over. sara has more. >> reporter: the view from above captures it perfectly, a chicago city frozen in place. in minnesota a car off the bridge, the driver walk ago way from minor injuries. many put are long hours to bring power back to life. all 50 states recorded freezing temperatures at some point tuesday. an unlucky few recorded negative temperatures. a continued cold meant a continued travel might marry. i-65 turned into a parking lot for tractor trailers. a soggy situation at reagan international airport when a pipe busted flooding hallways. airlines deiced planed on what seemed like a losing battle with the polar vortex. >> bill karins joins us in a moment on when we can expect relief. turning now to what's called a shocking and tragic accident in colorado, an avalanche killing the grandson of the founder. the avalanche killed the 24-year-old sibert. this is the fifth avalanche related death this season. the area was at a considerable risk because of new snowfall on what's considered a weak snow base. one more note on this cold morning. the cold reception is felt inside the white house. a new book aims to take down the obama administration. the unlikely author is former defense secretary robert gates. andrea mitchell reports. >> reporter: when rob gates left the obama cabinet, the president surprised the defense secretary with the nation's highest civilian honor. >> you're not only one of the longest serving defense secretaries in the history but it's clear you've been one of the best. >> i'm deeply honored and moved. >> in his sensational memoir, he ex cocoriates the president, an others in the white house for handling. gates says suspicion and distrust of seen nor'eastern military officials white house became a problem for me. gates writes, i thought the president doesn't trust the commander, can't stand kazai, doesn't believe in his strategy and doesn't consider the war to be his. it's all about getting out. he told matt about the war. he accuses biden of poisoning the well against the lead ship and accuses the team of aggressive, suspicious questions. he says he heard hill ray oppose the bar because she was running against the president in the caucuses. still despite his unusually harsh criticism of obama, gates calls the president's approval of the raid against similar bin laden when of the most courageous raids i experienced. >> 90 some million died. now we see people driving around with black al qaeda flags. that's so sad. what do we tell their families? >> that was andrea reporting. air travel is dangerous even afteroff. an americans airline flight made an emergency landing after the water pipe burst at 30,000 feet. it left many passengers soaked in their seats. flight 1106 landed safely after being diverted to little rock. fortunately everyone was okay. more than a million long term unemployed americans have been without help. help is slowly on the way. six republicans helped get the vote to the threshold ending the filibuster. it was a move that surprised many democrats. lawmakers will grapple how to pay for the extension coming with a $6.5 billion cost that both parties want to off set. senate leaders expect that vote to happen by the end of the week. well the most wanted man in the building, bill karins is here with more on the brutal cold. >> now i have good news for people. >> fortunately. >> big warm up for those that suffered. even in the west, we're getting rain. in central california little disappointed. you were looking like the next storm was going to head your way. now it doesn't appear so. here's the high temperatures yesterday across the country. chicago high of 3 degrees. you can see how warm it was with yellow colors. warmest by far phoenix to la. both cities tied 69 degrees. the wind chill map shows coldest air over minneapolis, great lake, northeast. we're mild everywhere pretty much rockies westwards. temperatures continue to be warm with pacific air. a lot of quick moving fronts moving through the west. brief periods of rain and windy conditions. thisle afternoon is one of those as a weak system comes through. that's the cold front off the coast. doesn't look like this will make it southward. there will be snow in the cascades, maybe as much as a foot over the next 24 hours. it will be spread out. winter weather advisories are issued. that know is mostly over 3,000. forecasted city, on and have the umbrella handy in seattle through the weekend. so the historic arctic outbreak leaves some arguing the drought situation in california is by far the bigger story. it doesn't get as much attention. >> when we warm up, we'll be dealing with drought. >> we're going to be. >> thank you bill. it's so cold out there an escaped prisoner surrenders to police to get warm again. plus solar flares directed at earth. and a shortage of velveeta while supplies last. you're watching "early today." welcome back. a u.s. airport helicopter crashed in an east england bird sanctuary killing the the four crew members on board. it's not clear what caused the crash. president barack obama will be meeting with members of congress and the intelligence community to discuss the grow ig outrage over the nsa spying allegations. catholic bishops in california are asking people to pray for rain. ending what would be the state's third consecutive dry winter, right now precipitation is not expected until late january. city officials are getting worried. cancer deaths are on the decline according to the american cancer society. americans have a 21% reduced risk of dying from cancer compared to 20 years ago across all ages and races. good news there. radio equipment went haywire when the sun erupted with a power solar flair sending particles 93 million miles to earth. you know it's cold when escaped con convicts turn themselves in. the convict was turned in and sent to a higher security prison. that happens. the folks at the cell phone repair show that 32 degrees is the limit for iphones. some smart phones can be operated down to negative 4 degrees. velveeta shortage, customers this morning see it's in short supply. the seasonal demand caused that shortage. overstock.com is the first retail tore buy the product with the currency known as bitcoin. 2600 applications have been filed in washington state to produce marijuana for sale at state licensed stores. that's ten times applications as were expected. the wall street journal reports beef prices hit the record high last week. it comes from ranchers that reduced herds. when its comes to making money, tiger has still got it. the bicycle trick and the perils of being a mascot. all your sports headlines are next. ♪ this is my day all week the today show anchors have been revealing how they plan to make a difference in 2014. today it's cameron hall and carson daily's turn. that's this morning on "today." we begin sports with an epic big 10 battle in college hoops n. the closing moment of overtime, michigan state hits the three-pointer to take the lead. they held on to beat ohio state 73-68. late in miami peace game against new orleans, lebron james took time to kiss a fan in the front row. she got a picture has the heat won. that's nice. how rich is tiger woods? according to golf digest his career earnings passed $1.3 billion. billion. olympic world champion lindsey vonn who happens to be tiger's girlfriend will not compete in sochi. after a mixed marshal arts fight saturday, andy posted this picture of himself. that's painful to look at. what's amaze as good he's smiling. an irali soccer player made an acrobatic twist for a by bicycle kick to make the goal. the jaguars team team mascot took a dive from high above the field. few of the team's cheerleaders got in on the action. who says cheerleaders aren't athletic? look at that. jimmy fallon credit this is one person having more influence over his biggest decisions than just about anyone else. who is it? we'll tell you next. welcome back. we are watchi ining rain moving. one system after another. one tonight, another powerful one friday night and saturday. periods of gusty winds too. snow elevations are moderately high above 3,000 feet with this event. temperatures in the 40s with on and off rain today. dry in most of california. we'll see showers in northern california throughout the day. not a lot of moisture makes it to nevada. thursday, the mountains will be cold with a little snow. active weather in the northwest. keep tuned to your forecast. >> it's warming up. controversy for its latest covers, mindy was the only woman of color, in black and white and more conservative. she responded with this tweet. i love my elle magazine cover. it made me feel glamorous. a young fan held a sign that said can i rap for you? jay-z made his dreams come true. that's nice. maybe he got a recording career. congrats to lilly tomlin that married her partner of 4 years, jane wagner. the two tied the knot on new year's eve. on the cover of vanity fair, jimmy fallon talks about time with his career. he said he helped him with everything from who he dated. could hue jackman bring the mull let back to the main stream? the actor is looking sharp with that cool air style for his movie shoot next week. apparently man eaters want to get up close and personal with the leonardo dicaprio. he told about an encounter with a great white shark. >> i got stuck in a cage with a great white which was awesome. i don't want to do that but i don't want to discount their work. it was absolutely terrifying. >> i would imagine. >> tina faye and amy have great suggestions on how to spend your time watching the golden globes. they said every time the cameras point to tom hanks do five pushups. when breaking bad speaks, do a little bit of meth. just a touch. slow down. she's just kidding. you going to do the pushups? >> they're fun. they're eating and drinking. >> it's the body emmys, uncensored. >> oscars are stiff compared to it. >> exactly. i can't wait to watch that. i'm page hopkins. this is "early today." we hope this is your first stop on the day on nbc. leaving the news in the la times, at least 50 scalded by the boiling water trick. you see the trick demonstrated. don't try this at home. at least 50 people burned themselves or others. in the denver post, forest service seeks $6.3 million from a man to battle the wildfire. that's how much it costed to battle the fire that a 77-year-old man accidentally started in 2012. stories you may have missed. the obama administration is giving new recommendations on class discipline. they plan to end parent disparities of how students are punished. black students without disabilities were twice as likely to be expelled suspended in 2012. chief brown is taking to tweeter to showing his arrests to others. chief brown follows up each one saying the ex employee has the right to appeal. he says transparency motivated him to engage the public. the reaction has been mostly positive but gets, quote, dicey, on some issues. a new weapon to fight the war on slouching. this is a wearable device that's able to detect when the user has bad posture. i'm sitting up straight now. >> you don't need it. >> i do need it. it vibrates to remind the user to sit up straight. it links with your smart phone tracking your posture progress over time. i want to get that for my kids. >> time to take a look back. aubrey lee price was arrested new year's eve and faces charges of stealing $21 million from a georgia bank. in the state of the union speech on this day 1964, lbj called for actions top end poverty. >> our task is to help replace their despair with opportunity. and this administration today here and now declares unconditional war on poverty in america. >> i'm page hopkins. thanks for watching "early today." have a great wednesday. was the bay area woman the victim of a vicious and possibly deadly prank known nationwide as the knockout game? the neighborhood on alert after a random attack. could be a break in the case. new information oakland police are expected to release today. they hope will catch the suspects who gunned down a man seven months ago. and caught on camera, the crystal clear surveillance video that has homeowners on the peninsula on high alert. >> a live looking looking out from oakland towards the bridge. overcast, warmer this morning than it has been for weeks, i think. we'll check in with christina loren about that. it's wednesday, january 8th. it's "today in the bay."