Good evening. And here we are on capitol hill in washington to cover the president s state of the Union Address later this evening, while at this hour the real urgency is being felt across a huge stretch of our country in the deep south. A rare and unusual snow and ice event. Some bad Winter Weather in cities and towns not equipped to handle it, from east texas on up through louisiana, including new orleans, through mississippi and alabama, where the National Guards been called out. And georgia, including atlanta right on up into the carolinas. Put another way, 140 million americans are living under some sort of weather watch or warning tonight. And while snowfall is one thing, some cities are icing over this evening. Its where we begin our coverage with our meteorologist dylan dreyer. Reporter these subfreezing, icy and dangerous Road Conditions are wreaking havoc tonight, particularly in atlanta. And theyre only expected to get worse. Police and emergency crews have already responded to hundreds of accidents in several states. With cars stranded, dozens of pileups, major traffic jams, and roads that quickly became impassable. Folks stepping in to help First Responders respond with some muscle power. While were accustomed to Winter Weather affecting Winter Travel along i95, this storm is shifting the misery to i10, a major artery stretching across the south, where today entire sections had to be shut down. Hours before the storm, snow plow drivers geared up for battle. Their armada much smaller than their northern neighbors. Where cities like chicago and minneapolis have hundreds of plows. Columbia, South Carolina has nine. This cold front is leaving air travelers stranded. More than 3,000 flights were cancelled across the country and nearly 6,000 delayed. Of the five airports hit hardest, four are in the south. At Louis Armstrong international in new orleans, flights were grounded altogether. Many southern officials are urging people to be vigilant with messages so similar they could have been finishing each others sentences. Were not used to this significant ice and sleet and snow that were experiencing today. Were highly recommending that people stay off of the roadways. Now is not the time to take any unnecessary risk or any unnecessary trips. Reporter in the south, the school day was cancelled or cut short in many states. For those that were in session, getting students home was tricky. In metro atlanta, Cherokee County schools suspended bus service this afternoon, telling parents who couldnt pick up their kids, students who are at school will remain until the roads are safer. Adding, the district is prepared to shelter students as necessary. Some students at georgia tech had actually never seen snow at all, until today. Enjoying the bitter blast that has the south feeling more like the north. And coping with a winter that continues to have an unrelenting icy grip on much of the country. Now this storm has turned deadly in mississippi today, where Authorities Say a family was trying to stay warm when a space heater caught fire. Killing four people, including two young children. Brian . Dylan dreyer starting us off in fayetteville, North Carolina tonight. Dylan, thank you. As fate and luck would have it, al roker is in washington tonight with a look at more on where this storm is headed. Hey, al, good evening. Where you go, brian, i go. We will continue to follow this weather. It stretches from texas all the way to new england with watches, winter storm watches, warnings and Winter Weather advisories all the way into the northeast and new england. The latest radar shows not only an icy mix stretching across the gulf coast on into the southeastern atlantic and the outer banks, but were also going to see light snow here in washington all the way up to new york city. Heres whats going on. Cold air pushing in, so the storm intensifies along the coast as these low pressure systems move up, and bring with it a lot more ice, snow right along the coast, stretching all the way to new york, boston, washington, d. C. And by early tomorrow morning, the ice storm ends and in the outer banks it will start to clear. Look at these snowfall and ice amounts. Up to a quarter to a half inch in the southeast. And as you get into the carolinas, were talking about 9 to 12 inches of snow, 1 to 3 inches all the way up into coastal new england. The good news, brian, is were going to start to see a shift in the current patterns. Theres the polar vortex, the Western Ridge has been keeping the warm air in the west and the cold air here in the eastern half of the country, even up into alaska. But we will finally see the polar vortex moving north. The jet stream becomes more zonal. Those are warmer winds from the pacific. And that means in the next 48 hours, everybody gets some relief. In fact, were going to be talking, brian, about temperatures 10 to 15 degrees above normal for about 85 of the country. So there is some good news, we just have to hang on a little longer. Al roker here with us in washington tonight. Al, thanks, as always. The president appears inside the capitol behind us here tonight to deliver his fifth state of the union. Theres been advanced talk of bypassing congress on some measures, on what hell say about the income gap and the minimum wage, and the speech to the nation comes as our new nbc news wall street journal poll finds continuing deep pessimism across this country. Lets go across town to our chief White House Correspondent political director chuck todd. Chuck, good evening. Reporter good evening, brian. A chilly reception, should we say . Anyway, brian, aides are selling this state of the union as one filled with realistic goals. So the translation is not a lot of big ideas, but a slew of targeted ones. The buzz word of the night for the president will be the word opportunity. New ideas to help deal with the economic and equality situation. For example, we already know the president plans to issue an executive order that raises the minimum wage for new federal contract workers to 10. 10 an hour. He Hopes Congress will pass the full law. But in our new poll, we asked what should be the Top Priorities of congress and the president this year. Here are the top five. They want to focus on creating jobs, reducing the deficit, expanding preschool education for everybody, dealing with the Iranian Nuclear threat and closing Corporate Tax loopholes. But, of course, brian, the real challenge for the president tonight is breaking through to a public thats deeply skeptical of everybody in this town. In our poll we asked people to describe the state of the nation, and just 3 used the word that the president is going to use tonight and thats strong. Most folks instead opted for negative terms. 37 chose divided. 23 went with troubled. 21 said deteriorating. Given that, its not surprising that just 28 of the people in our poll say the country is headed in the right direction. 63 say were on the wrong track. This continues a decade of pessimism, tenth Straight Year more people say were on the wrong track than on the right one. Brian, thats a grim backdrop for the president tonight. It sure is. Chuck todd at the white house setting the table for tonights speech. Chuck, thanks. Members of our on air team are already assembled for tonight. That would include nbcs Andrea Mitchell and david gregory, moderator of meet the press. David, given that grim backdrop, whats the republicans kind of advance response to what were going to hear tonight . They fired shots across the bough. If the president wants to go around the law and try to trample us, hes going to run into a brick wall. At the same time, the speaker says that republicans have got to become more of a party of better ideas, better solutions. Theyre thinking a lot about their game plan. Still going to be a lot of health care. They still want to make a big push on health care. This is an Election Year after all. Andrea mitchell, if you assume the state of the union is a wish list, lets consider the disconnect given what politics are between the president s wish list and what he will conceivably get. Well, just look at what happened last year. By some counts, he had 41 acts of congress and only got two. One was the debt ceiling, after that devastating government shutdown, one was the violence against women act. He is going to, im told, ask for an expansion of the unearned income tax credit that would help the working poor and the unemployed. Hes not going to be confrontation, he will say this is a quotation weve just been given from the speech america does not standstill and neither will i. Whenever i can take steps to expand legislation for opportunity for more americans, thats what im going to do. That is the executive order on the minimum wage. But hes not going to go in there fighting. He will talk about a veto, one veto on iran sanctions, but its all going to be focused on the economy and on trying to Work Together on immigration particularly. All right, thanks, gang. With that preview, this is where well be watching tonight. Most americans dont need a speech in washington to tell them how things are going in their lives. Just ask and theyll readily tell you what they think about the state of the union. Nbcs harry smith spent a few days on the road listening. Reporter california shop owner rosalie wonders, what happened to president obamas promise of hope . I was so hopeful at first, i had hoped he would pull everybody together. I find that the country is more divisive now than ever. Reporter while colorado architect tim van meter wonders why we cant just get along. Im pretty disappointed in our country, you know, the issue of this deadlock of extreme ideology on all sides, thats not who we are. Even after a year when we saw the stock market go up, and unemployment go down, americans are frustrated in this winter of discontent. Its the United States of america, its not blue versus red. Instead of healthy debates, we have stalemates. Washington is okay, congress sucks. Reporter Christina Carrasco wonders why some problems take so long to solve. Theres a Significant Group of people that in order for them to really be able to move forward and to achieve what we call the american dream, there needs to be immigration reform. Reporter miami dentist Jeanette Hall wonders if that dream is even achievable. Im at the age where i should see everything that ive invested in my education and my profession multiply and give me a return so that i can retire on that. Yet i feel like im working hard and just standing still. Reporter in houston, Vincent Tortorella wonders how it got this way. Theres a lot of people out there hurting. And it doesnt have to be that way, it really doesnt. Reporter and marine corps veteran Robin Forsythe wonders, why the richest country in the world cant afford to care for its own. Theres so many people that are struggling to keep their homes and to keep their Families Together and put food on the table. Yes, it does affect me, because when my community suffers, i suffer as well. Reporter the state of the union is unsettled, and the people wonder if washington hears them. Harry smith, nbc news, denver. As chuck todd said, an ominous backdrop. One more reminder here, live coverage of the president s state of the Union Address tonight, 9 00, 8 00 central time on this nbc station. This was for what its worth a good day on wall street in new york. The dow was up more than 90 points. The nasdaq gained more than 14. S p was almost 11 points higher at the end of trading. Still ahead for us tonight, the surprising story out of london that involves the queen and the cost of living as she does. The big bills and money problems just revealed. And later, remembering a real american folk hero, the legendary life of pete seeger. We shall overcome we mentioned this before the break, an unusual story popped up across the atlantic in the u. K. Today. Its about something we never really assumed to be a big issue for the queen and her Royal Household, and thats money. Nbcs kate snow has more on the story tonight. Reporter oh, to be the queen. The jewels, the parties, the lavish lifestyle, the british people spent more than 50 million last year to keep up that image. But this new report from a committee of the British Parliament says the Royal Household finances are in shambles, that the queen has not been served well by her staff when it comes to managing the books, sticking to a budget, or even keeping up Buckingham Palace. For example, the boiler at Buckingham Palace is 60 years old, its out of date. The bills, the electricity and gas bills are huge. It should be replaced. Theres no money for it. Reporter probably more than 40 of the queens properties are in unacceptable condition with some dangerous or deteriorating, the committee found. Buckets sit under leaky roofs in a gallery containing priceless works of art. A huge backlog of repairs and no one seems to know exactly what needs to be fixed. When we ask the Royal Household what assessment they had of how much money they needed to spend, they couldnt tell us. Reporter the queen herself is famously frugal. She shuts off lights when she leaves the room. But hodges Committee Says her Royal Household has been spending beyond its means. Given that grant of 51 million last year, they overspent by about 4 million. Draining down their Rainy Day Fund to a historically low level. So whats a queen to do . Parliament suggests laying off some staff, while Government Agencies have been pinching pennies, the Royal Household has barely changed in size, with more than 430 people on the payroll for the past seven years. And heres the big one, the committee wants the queen to open her doors to tourists for more than just a couple months in the summer. Its possible for the queen to rent out Buckingham Palace, to extend the time its open to the general public, well, that is a possibility. Reporter in a statement, the queens spokesman said theyre working on a backlog of repairs. And the Royal Household is already generating more income than it did five years ago. Lawmakers call that good news, but said those who serve the queen can do better. Kate snow, nbc news, new york. Well take another break, well be back in a moment with an intriguing look at the latest place where pope francis has turned up. This was the scene today in what had been one of the most volatile regions of russia in recent years. The olympic torch arrived in chechnya today. Nine days to go before the start of competition in sochi. About 500 miles away. Though the republic is relatively stable now, russian authorities fought two wars against separatists there over the last two decades. The torch moved through the city of grozny without incident. With the hype growing for sundays super bowl in the cold, in the elements, in the new jersey meadowlands, a big name from this past nfl season is breaking his silence. Jonathan martin, the Miami Dolphins lineman triggered a locker room bullying investigation. Hes now given an exclusive interview to former nfl coach and nbc football analyst tony dungy. Im a grown man. Ive been in locker rooms. Theres vulgar language in locker rooms, one instance of it doesnt bother me. Its the persistence of it. I wish i would have had more tools to solve my situation. I felt trapped, like i didnt have a way to make it right. It came down to a point where i felt it best to remove myself from the situation. Just a small portion of the conversation there between tony dungy and Jonathan Martin which will air tomorrow on today. This next item makes sense when you consider how many people have referred to the new pope as a rock star. Pope francis is on the cover of rolling stone. Hes no stranger to publicity or magazine covers, for that matter, he was times man of the year, this is the first time a pope has made the cover of the chronicle of rock n roll. Proof of what they say on the cover, the times, they are achangin. Because it takes a giant to lift a giant a massive floating crane called the left coast lifter has moved through the panama canal on its way to the hudson river in new york, to build the new Tappan Zee Bridge. The vessel is as long as a 30 Story Building is high. It can lift 1,900 tons at a time. Its traveling 6,000 miles to its new temporary workplace. When we come back here tonight well remember pete seeger and a powerful voice that sang for justice. Overnight, we received word that pete seeger had died at the age of 94. Many people today called him an american treasure. The New York Times today called him a bean pole of a man with a hearty tenor. He recorded over 100 albums and received all the highest honors given out to artists in this country. And when you think about it, he sang about the state of our union all his life. If i had a hammer id hammer in the morning pete seeger sang about justice all over this land. He was a protest singer who seldom turned to anger, but he did raise his voice about mcca