Among them sarah palin, who says she is ready to throw her hat in the ring. And remembering mr. Cub. Baseball fans in mourning with the death of ernie banks. We will look back at his life today, saturday january 24th 2015. Announcer from nbc news this is today with lester holt and erica hill. Live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning. Welcome to today on a saturday morning. Im lester holt. Im erica hill alongside Sheinelle Jones and dylan dreyer. Tough news overnight. You spent a long time in chicago. He is mr. Cub. Ernie banks. We woke up to the news overnight. What an incredible optimistic guy. I had a chance to meet him. He had the enthusiasm. The Chicago Sun Times with lets play two. That got the fans to go to the wrigley field. I was rushing around and started reading articles about him. Every word approachable and optimistic and all the positive words. He got the medal of freedom from president obama. Lets get to the top story. The huge storm making a big mess on the roads for anyone out there driving. That includes our crew out in new jersey right now. We will check in with them in a moment. Dylan has the latest. Good morning. The roads not looking good. It is not just the snow but always dangerous ice for treacherous Road Conditions. In some areas, it wont let up until the end of the day. Early this morning, a Winter Wonderland across the northeast. Snow plows in the wee hours in new jersey. Roads in philadelphia covered with snow. In new york city cars blanketed as well. Northeast residents have been posting pictures of it all on social media. Earlier this week the biggest winter storm of the year so far blanketed new mexico and texas. In amarillo it piled up in a matter of hours as you can see in the timelapse video. An extraordinary 14 inches in the past few days. Amarillo has seen more snow this month than parts of alaska. Pouring rain in biloxi. In the carolinas, colder temperatures turned rain to ice. Coating windshields and streets. Everybody drives too fast. Causing travel headaches and closing roads to the Virginia State line. A lot of the snow in new jersey fell overnight. It is making an absolute mess of the roads. You have to be careful driving in it. That is actually where we find Kristen Dahlgren driving through the roads in northern new jersey. Reporter good morning, dylan. This storm affecting 50 Million People. We are out here so you dont have to be. It really is a mess out here. You can see our point of view. Im driving here and we are on one of the secondary roads. Maybe it has been plowed once overnight. About 3 to 4 inches of snow fell here overnight. It is still a mess out here. It has now i have been in those driving shots before. Sometimes that signal just breaks down. There are so many moving pieces. Kristen is in new jersey where the snow had fallen early in the wee hours. The snow is moving up to new england. We are getting a break. Also transitioning over to rain across new jersey. That is the trend. A fast moving storm. On the back side the snow will linger across northern connecticut and central and northeastern massachusetts before it pulls away overnight. We have still looking at additional snowfall, especially through new england. We will see some pockets of 6 to 9 inches. The 3 to 6 in new jersey is on the ground. Same for southern new york as well. As we go into sunday and monday the clipper system will race through the midwest and track into the midatlantic. Especially into early monday morning. As much as 3 to 6 inches of snow is possible in some spots, but it is more of a messy monday morning commute in the d. C. Area with 1 to 3 inches. In the darker shades here in the Higher Elevations in West Virginia and maryland that is where we could end up with 3 to 6 inches. It is not that much but monday morning commute that seems to take the hit. The timing. It really has a big impact. Thanks. We will get more later. Turning to deflategate. On friday the nfl breaking its silence confirming in a press release that the balls used in the first half of the patriots colts game were under inflated. As for that how happened, the league is investigating. Nbcs ron mott is in foxborough massachusetts this morning. Reporter good morning, erica. A lot are calling to end deflategate before the super bowl which is a week from tomorrow. If you read the statement from the nfl, this may go on longer before the saga is over. You know i didnt alter the ball. Reporter Quarterback Tom Brady and Bill Belichick said their peace and Roger Goodell is pressed to weigh in before the super bowl. In a statement on friday breaking its days long silence, the nfl said nearly 40 people had been interviewed with more to go and the investigation is ongoing. It will be thorough and objective and pursued expe dish yusly. In other words, hinting no clear end in sight. Good chance we will not have definitive answers until the patriots face the seahawks. Is tom brady a cheater . I dont believe so. Reporter this comes a day after the dual news conferences. Some say this is less of a believable involvement. And Bill Belichicks short answers following the Opening Statement in which he denied the involvement in how the balls were deflated. I dont have an explanation. I told you all i can tell you from my point of view. Reporter the nfl says both teams footballs were within league specs before the game. Brady said he cannot explain. He professed to have no knowledge of what happened to the balls. I think most people probably found that that stretched credibility. Reporter his defensive tackle matt light had his back on the field. He spoke out. He doesnt have any record of doing anything to lead people to believe he would pull off a stunt like this. This is one of the most ridiculous things. Reporter the team is fully cooperating with the nfl and prepared to play the seahawks. They will be back for practice and off to arizona on monday after the sendoff in downtown boston. Ron mott thank you. What does this mean for the nfl as a whole . Bob ryan covered the patriots for a decade and he is the author of scribe. We have steve who is an expert on branding. Bob, lets start with you. The under inflated ball gives an advantage, but not enough for a win. This was a win that went beyond the ball. Why so much hatred to this team . This would not be a story. This would have been rectified by monday afternoon by lunchtime were it one of the other 32 teams in the league. This is the ongoing shenanigans of the new england patriots. No other team would be subjected to this scrutiny. That is the story here. The transgression was minor. Nothing happened. The under inflated football was not flown as well as the inflated football in the second half by tom brady. This would have been brushed aside as oops we are sorry. Okay be good boys. This is the patriots. This is all about one man. Bill belichicks reputation. Lets talk about those two news conferences. The one he held and brady held in which there were all these denial denials. In your experience in sports would these footballs be deflated without the knowledge of the quarterback using them . It is highly doubtful as every quarterback interviewed active or retired to weigh in and skeptical of bradys explanation. We know no more than 48 hours ago. It is doubtful. It is hard to believe that Bill Belichick is ignorant about game day football preparation and it is hard to believe that tom brady wasnt involved in some way. It is hard to believe. Steve, a lot of people are having trouble believing that. What does that do to bradys image . It is devastating. This is a guy who some people call the derek jeter of football. You can forget about that. Derek jeter would not stand out there for 30 minutes. Why is he there for 30 minutes . No one pulls him . 61 questions in 30 minutes. Belichick was smart enough for a few minutes and few questions. We are talking about a deflated ball. Weeks ago, we were talking about Domestic Abuse in the nfl. This is a big gap. The nfl brands on the line. Im glad they brought in ted wells to investigate. We will find out. It is no longer about football. It is about the integrity of the guy who is the brand of the nfl. Tom brady. You dont stand there for a half hour and imply. Yes, i like the balls at a certain weight but you know after that i have no idea what goes on. He implied an equipment manager actually did it. He didnt say it. He implied it. He would have nothing to do with that. The problem is it is about responsibility and leadership and lack of being a leader and responsible. It sends a terrible message to kids. I think this hurt tom bradys reputation in a serious way. I believe he will have to say, i did know certain things. If i didnt direct these people to do it with the equipment managers. They thought that is what i wanted. He owned nothing for a half hour to do that. He hurt himself. By the way, when did the nfl quarterback throw another quarterback under the bus . That never happens. Steve and bob, thanks to both of you taking part in the conversation. New this morning, president obama is cutting short a trip to india. Sheinelle is following that story from overnight. Good morning. President obama heads overseas this morning, but there has been a lastminute change in plans. He is going to india, but make a side trip to pay respects to the ally in saudi arabia. We have nbc correspondent Kristen Welker live at the white house. Reporter good morning, sheinelle. The white house made the announcement that president obama will cut the trip to india short and travel to saudi arabia. The president is expected to meet with the new king salman on tuesday. Joe biden was initially slated to lead the delegation. In the press statement, josh earnest stated as the president and Vice President travel schedules were clear, we determined the window would be on the ground in saudi arabia. Accordingly, we adjusted the schedule. The president will meet with king salman and other officials and offer condolences on the american people. It is uncommon to cut the trip short, but the decision was made because saudi arabia was a close ally to america in the region and key in the fight against isis. The change means the president will skip plans to visit the taj mahal in india, but still hold talk was the prime minister. Sheinelle. Thank you. Mr. Cub ernie banks has died. Baseball hall of famer was 83. No cause of the death was given. Banks was beloved in chicago where he spent his 19year career there. He was an exceptional player with 500 home runs and made 14 allstar teams. He was known all over baseball for the positive attitude. Especially playing on so many losing teams. And his phrase of lets play two. To marines killed in a helicopter operation in palms california on friday afternoon. The Commanding Officer has not released their names, but says quote, our hearts go out to the families and friends to the marines lost in the accident. Japan today says it will not give up on two hostages held by isis. The deadline for the beheading has come and gone. The militants are demanding 200 million in ransom for the two men. The same amount japan promised to fight the terror group. An American Woman will serve time for her involvement. 19yearold Shannon Conley boarded a flight to hope to get her to syria. She planned to marry an extremist. She was sentenced to four years on friday. A big victory for samesex marriage in alabama. A federal judge shut down the ban on the marriage friday. And talk about having a hot hand. Hand. Klay thompson poured in 37 points in a single quarter of play against sacramento. Both benches stood amazed as klay hit shot after shot. Golden state won the game 122101. Guys he had a good day. That is being in the zone. You just cant miss. Good place. Thank you. Dylan is back with a broader check of the countrys weather. Hoping somebody can get sunshine. The middle of the country is seeing sunshine right now. It is a bit cool down in the 50s, but it is above average for this time of year. In the southwest, an area of High Pressure in control. It is producing some stronger winds. The santa anas with the temperatures in the 70s. In the upper midwest, that is the next disturbance that will race through the midwest into sunday night and monday. In the meantime we are looking at this snowstorm. Especially now moving up into new england where most of the heavy snow will fall for the good saturday morning to you. Im meteorologist anthony slaughter. Chilly but not bad, 40s and 50s across the entire bay area this morning. Fogfree. And thats going to be the scenario today. Get out and enjoy the weather. Talking about 70s today for the bay area even at the coastlines. Enjoy the beach today. 73 in the south bay. Peninsula, at 71. Trivalley 73. San francisco, 71. Even in the north bay mild, 76. And thats your latest forecast. Dylan, thanks. The race for president is heating up. Many of the biggest names in the Republican Party are in iowa for a high profile event today. Among them Chris Christie and ted cruz and sarah palin. We have Kelly Odonnell with more. Reporter good morning. Devoted to take back the white house, they will look for the nominee here today. There will be more than two dozen republican names on the stage. There will be a crowd of more than 1,200 with tickets and another 1,000 people on the waiting list. Here in iowa conservatives are gearing up for an allday republican rally. We are heading into 2016. We are riding a wave. Reporter billed as the iowa Freedom Summit a potential of candidates. Most popular with the tea party. Ted cruz scott walker rick perry and sarah palin. Asked by abc news on thursday if she might run. Her answer . Of course. Reporter but today is also a test for Chris Christie. He gets the gop establishment spotlight to himself. Without jeb bush or mitt romney here to face iowa voters. Governor christie of new jersey is the best known candidate and the one who probably has the most to gain or lose. Reporter not in iowa this weekend. Thank you all. Reporter but appearing very much in the game. I know you are on the fence. No im not. Reporter feeding the president ial buzz. Im seriously considering the possibility of running. Reporter jeb bush answered questions friday night at the National AutomobileDealers Association convention in San Francisco. The former Florida Governor tried to take some of the mystery out of his private meeting thursday with mitt romney. It was a good conversation. I respect him a lot and consider him a friend. The awkward side of this about running, we put aside. Reporter and officials here expect to see jeb bush in iowa soon. No word if mitt romney is coming here. Ted cruz is heading west to california where he will meet up with rand paul and marco rubio at an event hosted by the koch brothers. Kelly, thank you. Pop superstar will. I. Am is in switzerland at the forum and he is worried about american students. Nbcs keir simmons caught up with him. Reporter it is not what you expected to hear from will. I. Am. The platform to find singers. No shortage of football players. But engineers. Reporter but the entertainer and co founder of the black eyed peas says the young people are falling behind in a way that will surprise you. Im going back to neighborhoods and ghettos starting with my own and telling these kids they should take an interest in technology so they know where its going. Reporter you may think your son or daughter is ahead of you when it comes to using a smartphone like this but will. I. Am says the brain power in one of these is advancing than your childrens intelligence. He brought his message, president of his foundation to switzerland where the rich and powerful have been gathering for winter meetings of the World Economic forum. Do you feel worried that the world is becoming more divided than the folks here more disconnected than the rest of the world . That is always the case. I know. I come from the projects. I never knew about this world summit when i was in the projects. Reporter will. I. Am knows style, of course but he was taken aback by the powers despite the cold and snow. But he says it is what todays kids are learning. Not what they are wearing that he is focused on now. You want to have enormous success and dream down this path of technology. Reporter for today, keir simmons, nbc news, switzerland. Say it aint so. The quirky products we have not seen. But first this is today on nbc. Hey guess what day it is . . Hump day hummmp daaay its hump day yeah hey Mike Mike MikeMike Mike MikeMike Mike Mike mike mike. Hey he knows hey guess what day it is hey camel guess what day it is its not even wednesday. Let it go, phil. If youre a camel, you put up with this all the time. Its what you do. sigh if you want to save fifteen percent or more on Car Insurance, you switch to geico. Its what you do. Ok. Im sure you have been there. You are sitting on a plane and you cant take the laptop out yet. You dont have wifi. Theres sky mall waiting for you in the seat back pocket. Not really anymore. The company has filed for bankruptcy. That means the products you love to read about might not be available anymore. Sheinelle is in the orange room with more. You are right. The publication says the bankruptcy is due to the fact that lester, you said this now people can use their electronic gadgets during flights. They are browsing the web. Not sky mall. If you looked in the catalog, you know how unique some of the products are. Why not take a stroll down memory lane. Lets look at the products. This is my favorite. The beard beanie. 19. 95. Lester, this is all you. Next we have a sculpture king crab chair. 599. Why not by the pool. This is the favorite. Grim reaper tissue toilet. Why not . A volkswagen camper