The people across america. And good morning, everyone. Welcome to news4 midday, im barbara harrison. Its wednesday, january 29th, 2014. And right now, the hard freeze is affecting the deep south. Six states declared emergencies. Georgia is one of the hardesthit areas. Right now, the mayor of atlanta says people are still stranded on the highways because of the icy roads. This morning, georgia governor nathan dooel ordered the National Guard into their humvees to rescue stranded students on a bus and drivers stranded on the highway. Thousands of people never made it home last night. Many drivers abandoned their cars on the highway and walked to safety. More than 900 accidents were reported in georgia in the last 24 hours. Well, the same system that brought a fresh coating of snow overnight in our region, news4s Melissa Malay said it happened reporter i may look like i have a lot of sun, but its 12 degrees here. We have a couple inches of powder here on the ground. Very easy to dust off. You can see the roads here behind me, in they were treated, not a big deal. Same situation with parking lots. Lots of kids here in charles county, very happy to be out of school today. Oh, the sounds of snow. Shovels scraping. Plows pushing. Blowers well, blowing. After repeated punches by old man winter, youd think james jones would want to duck, bob, or weave. Just trying to get it done before the businesses open. Reporter we drove through charles county, into king george, virginia, back to st. Marys. Most of the roads were wet, slushy, but a slick spot can creep up on you. This man was headed on 228 when he spun out. On crane highway, plows treating the roads, pushing snow. By later in the morning, traffic moving just fine on main roads. And though he likes the snow, he does have a problem on his hands. A little issue with his car. My windshield washer froze up, so ive got to get something to melt that out. Reporter still, a lot of work to do in this neighborhood. Untreated, unplowed, everything blanketed in snow. This is just white powder snow. Thats all it is. Thats all weve had this year. Reporter nearby, alton brown is brushing off his church van prepping for a day of deliveries. Yeah, they need the help today. Reporter he and dozens of other volunteers taking donations into the woods of Southern Maryland today, clothing blankets, toiletries, tents, as they try to take a survey of the homeless here. At least were going to prepare for at least 300, 400 people today. Reporter and offer help in this brutal cold. If theyre living in their vehicles, were looking to give them gas cards, meal cards that they can go some place and get a hot meal. So were trying to see what their needs are, as well. Reporter its estimated there are 100,000 homeless living in Southern Maryland. You can see them loading up this van to deliver those items. Of course, very, very needed especially in the cold weather. Theyre going to get the head count today. This is happening across the state, help the folks, of course, with the services that they need. Very important thing theyre doing. Group is lifestyles of maryland. If youd like to help, go to nbcwashington. Com. Live in la plata, Melissa Malay, news 4. All right. Thank you so much. Stay warm out there. Daylight is giving us a better picture of the snow that brought people in Hampton Roads to a standstill. Now, snow blankets the boardwalk. Streets are covered in historic williamsburg. Today, schools and government offices across Hampton Roads are closed. Many cities declared a state of emergency, which could allow them to be reimbursed for snow cleanup. Were seeing sunshine out there, as you can see. Storm team4 meteorologist chuck bell is in for chuck and joins us with the first midday forecast. Chuck . Good morning, barbara. Good morning, everybody. The sun is shining, but its still oh, so very cold outside. Heres the radar loop on storm team4 radar over the last 12 hours. So from this time yesterday when we had the snow moving in, there it is racing across the coastline there. And as advertised, the heaviest of the snows were south and east of the washington area. Snow on the boardwalks from Atlantic City to rehoboth beach, ocean city, towards Virginia Beach and norfolk, as well. Snowfall amounts down in southeastern virginia were in that 4 to 6inch range. In and around here, on storm team4 radar, nothing happening now. Current wind chills are, though, close to zero in many neighborhoods. So theres still a real chill in the air. And air temperatures themselves are only now in the mid to upper teens. Coming up, the last of the really cold nights is coming up tonight. The sun will really start to help the meltdown tomorrow. Of course, all eyes on your Super Bowl Weekend plans. Talk about that with your seven day in a few more minutes. Barbara, back to you. Thanks, chuck. If you have a flight today, you may need to change your plans, especially if were you supposed to fly south. 1,500 flights are cancelled nationwide. Thats double since 6 00 this morning. About 60 of those were supposed to be out of one of our three airports, but travelers in the south are feeling the most pain. Airports in places like atlanta, houston, new orleans, and raleigh top the list for cancellations today. New orleans says its unlikely any flights will get out of there today. Many airports in the south say they simply dont have the deicing equipment to make planes safe. Well, you can stay ahead of the storm and keep up to date on all of the Current Conditions with our storm team4 weather app. Download by searching nbc washington weather on apples app store or google play. And right now, the president is kicking off a fourstate tour to promote jobs and manufacturing. He just finished speaking at a costco in lanham, maryland. Un yang has more. Reporter he called costco a Model Company for success due to fair treatment for its workers. He talked about the need to raise the minimum wage for americans, a message he highlighted in last nights state of the union. The president said he would take steps to expand opportunities for families with or without help from congress. Im choosing this to be a year of action, because too Many Americans are working harder than ever just to get by, much less get ahead. The scars of the recession are real. The middle class has been taking it on the chin since before the recession. The economys been growing for four years now. Corporate profits, stock prices have all soared. But the wages and incomes of ordinary people havent gone up in over a decade. The president also said this could be a breakthrough year to overcome economic hardships from the last five years. His next stop is pittsburgh where he is expected to talk about his Retirement Plan proposal. Lets go live to Darcy Spencer in lanham with reaction to the president s speech. Darcy . Reporter well, un, as you can imagine, there was a lot of excitement out here this morning. Workers who work not only here at this costco, but the one in beltsville, wheaton, hundreds of costco workers were given a special invitation to come and watch the president give his remarks in person. Oh, its awesome. Its good. Yeah, its our privilege to have the president here. Reporter they lined up in the bitter cold and amidst the fresh fallen snow for a chance to see the president of the united states. I am elated. I am elated. Im very happy. So glad to have the opportunity to do this. Reporter and he was right here where they work every day. Costco. Employees received a special invitation to witness his remarks. Did you ever expect him to come to costco . No, but i i really appreciate it. You know hes a great guy, and we love him. Reporter the president speaking about his state of the Union Proposal to hike the minimum wage to 10. 10 an hour for federal contract workers. There was a rally outside the costco supporting the increase. America needs a raise, because 7. 25, no one can live on that. Reporter costco workers told me they make more than 10. 10 an hour, but they support the increase for lowerwage workers. Thats great. I got children coming up, they need that money. Reporter Yvonne Mitchell is a single parent struggling to make ends meet. She says a bump in the minimum wage is a start to help lowincome families like hers. Its still not enough. I mean, by the time you pay your rent, buy food, and any other necessities you need, your money is gone. Reporter now, we heard have heard criticism from republicans in congress about the president s proposal, but no one we spoke to here today at costco was opposed to the plan. Reporting live from Prince Georges County, Darcy Spencer, news4. Thank you, darcy. In just a few minutes, well break down key points of the president s state of the Union Address. Well talk with nbc senior Political Editor mark murry, and well have indepth coverage on nbcwashington. Com. And right now, Howard County investigators are asking for your help in finding out new information about the suspected gunman in that deadly shooting at the mall in columbia. Police are handing out flyers with 19yearold darion marcus aguilars picture to sources at the mall. A taxi service said one of its drivers called police after the shooting on saturday. He took a weirdlooking guy to the mall. The driver picked up aguilar in burtonsville. Investigators want to know what he was doing there since he lived and worked in the college park area. Right now, the house is voting on a farm bill. Its a bill lawmakers have been working on for two years, and itll make cuts to food stamps. Plus more on the student and the response from both democrats and republicans. Well also bring you the emotional conclusion to that speech. Stay with us. Right now, were waiting for the house to vote on a farm bill. The 100 billion a year beale includes small cuts to the food stamp program. Republican leaders support the measure, even though they wanted those cuts to be deeper. Senate democrats think they have enough votes to pass the bill, assuming the house approves it today. Well send you an alert to your smart phone as soon as that vote happens, if you have the nbc washington app. Well, president obama is hitting the road to promote his state of the Union Proposals, and he says hes prepared to go it alone. America does not stand still and neither will i, so wherever and whenever i can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more american families, thats what im going to do. [ applause ] well, that was the theme for the president last night. He says hell use executive orders to protect federal lands, raise gas mileage standards for big trucks and establish a backed retirement program, and raise the minimum wage for federal contractors. The president did appeal to congress to pass immigration and tax reform last night. The speech is being described as an agreeable speech. With more on that now, were joined by mark murray, nbc Political Editor. Good morning. Good morning, barbara. Agreeable. It wasnt a confrontational speech. Sometimes in state of the union, weve seen confrontational, where the president says, heres what im for, heres what i guess, and, boy, you opposition party, youre screwing it up. President bush said, heres what im for. Im for increasing minimum wage. Im for immigration reform. If they can agree to that, im willing to make a deal. If they cant, im going to take the actions i can under the law to get some of the stuff done. It was more about in tone, and i wouldnt be surprised because of the agreeable tone, if this polls well in the short term. Are we getting any reaction . There was one instant poll by cnn that showed 76 of the people who ended up seeing it liked the speech. Now, one thing worth noting in these instant polls with the state of the union, the majity of the people who are watching these are usually democrats. They want to watch their president , their political party. So it was stacked for the democrats favor. In a way, you look at the things he talked about, the language he use, poll tested, and in good way in which people say, oh, i agree with that, or that doesnt sound menacing or problematic to me. There are some democrats who criticizing the speech. Who are they . Folks in the right states. We saw some statements, and one from alaska mark begich, louisiana senator mary landrieu, and theyre all for reelection in states where president obama did not do well in 2012. One of the things thats interesting, the statements they end up giving, its as if some of the statements were written beforehand, before the speech came out, look, im against this president with low approval ratings. Just to protect themselves. The whole big takeaway, you look at the different policy proposals, these are ones that could unite the red state and blue state democrats on immigration, minimum wage. You said yesterday wed have a threeprong republican response, but i understand they all brought up the Affordable Care act. They did. One thing was interesting, they were talking about in the framework of the Affordable Care act. In some ways, the comment that struck me the most is Cathy Mcmorris rodgers, the republican congresswoman from washington state, and ended up saying we cant go back to the status quo, what it was before. That is a new thing that republicans are talking about. And it was really interesting. Lets have a listen to what she said. Republicans believe Health Care Choices should be yours, not the governments. Well, that was her main statement, wasnt it in. And that is the standard republican statement. But what really did strike me was she was basically saying, all right, lets take the obamacare framework and add our ideas to it. Do they have any other points, quickly . Just, i think the president is going on the road, talked about it in maryland, tomorrow going to tennessee and wisconsin. Well see if that message stays in the news. Thanks so much, mark. Thanks. For more from the political new team, check out firstread on nbcnews. Com. Today is take two for larry hogans announcement hell be running for governor. Last weeks major snowstorm cancelled the original announcement. The event will kick off at 7 00 near annapolis. Hogan served under robert ehrlich, you may remember. Three other republicans are vying to become the partys nominee. Of course, the primary is coming up this june. Storm team4 meteorologist Chuck Bell Jones us with a look at our forecast. Its still cold out there, chuck. Oh, yeah. Dont be fooled by the sunshine. Theres plenty of cold air left outside. It will be another really cold night tonight into tomorrow morning. Most of the suburbs will once again be down into the Single Digits by tomorrow morning. This morning, though, we had to deal with the snow. Sometimes we talk about shovable snow or sweepable snow. This was a blowable snowstorm. This is out near my live shot in forestville, maryland. These guys literally blowing the sidewalk clean with a leaf blower, at 4 15 in the morning, just outside of a starbucks which opens at 5 00 a. M. Critical, of course, to have all of the sidewalks cleared leading into those hot spots for Early Morning commuters. A lot a lot of folks down at the starbucks early this morning as they were headed off to work and all grateful to have a hot cup of coffee and icefree sidewalk. Outside, this was the actual map that we had yesterday for forecasting the snow. A coating to about an inch in and around the metro area, and one to three in southern Prince Georges County and 3 to 4 in far Southern Maryland. That was the forecast. Heres what actually came down in Southern Maryland this morning, where i was in forestville, only an inch. Andrews air force base, camp springs, all about three inches of snow. Three inches in waldorf, la plata, four inches toward mechanicsville, five inches in leonards town and four inches in king george county, virginia, the overnight snow totals. Now, as far as social media goes, had a lot of people tweeting me this morning with the snow pictures. This is the best way to stay in touch with us. The Facebook Page or any of the twitter addresses. Mine is chuckbell4. Now, theres a look at storm team4 radar. A wide shot. The last of the rain and snow long gone off of our coastline. A little bit of sleet and freezing rain off the outer banks of north carolina, but in and around home, things are on the upandup. Now, full sunshine, bitter cold. 18 degrees now at national airport. It is 16 in winchester. 19 in fredericksburg. And 16 in annapolis with wind chills still generally in the Single Digits. So well see an improvement for later on today. Temperatures climbing only into the mid20s, so it will stay awfully cold. A look ahead for tomorrow, another day, teens inside the beltway, but a lot of Single Digits on the map tomorrow morning, and a cold winter sunshine will last through tomorrow, and then the warmup really starts to take hold as we get towards thursday afternoon. I think a lot of neighborhoods, even in town, even if just briefly, above freezing, so sunshine and temperatures at 34. Thatll really help the meltdown for tomorrow. Clouds start to come back in on friday, but our next chance of anything coming out of the sky looks like it will be rain and not snow, and it looks like its a sunday monday threat at the moment past. So we better start planning on the shorts and flipflops. 52 will feel strangely warm. Isnt it great to use the leaf blower to blow the snow . Ive never actually seen it done before. So i was very impressed. Ill tell you, the folks going in and out of the starbucks were happy about that. All right, thank you, chuck. Well see you again. All right. It is 11 22. Coming up, what happened when a woman in labor got stuck in the snowstorm that has paralyzed much of the deep south today. Youll want to see this. And what a congressman says to a reporter after the interview that is gettg a whole lot of attention today. First, heres a look at whats hot on nbcwashington. Com. A death row inmate in missouri has been given a stay of execution just hours before he was supposed to die. The Supreme Court ordered the execution be put on hold temporarily. He was supposed to day after midnight. His lawyers asked for a stay because the state wouldnt reveal its source of the drug being used in his execution. A new york congressman is defending himself this morning. It comes after a video surfaced of him threatening a reporter following a state of the union. Take a look. Why let me be clear to you. You do that to me again ill throw you off this balcony [ bleep ] that was republican Michael Grimms reaction after a reporter from new york 1 tried to ask him about an investigation to his campaign finances. Grimm released a statement afterwards saying that he was doing the reporter a favor and was only there to comment on the state of the union. He called the question disrespectful and a cheap shot. This morning, social media is buzzing about one particular moment during last nights speech, but it had nothing to do with politics. President obama introduced a soldier who nearly lost his life in afghanistan, and the response was emotional. Corey is here tonight, and like the army he loves, like the america he serves, Sergeant First ClassCory Remsburg never gives up, and he does not quit. [ cheers and applause ] Sergeant First Class remsburg was hit by a roadside bomb in 2009. He spent months in a coma with shrapnel in his brain. Hes still blind in one eye, but hes walking and talking today. The president ended the speech with his story, and remsburg received a nearly twominutelongstanding ovation from the crowd. And were getting brandnew information out of atlanta. The city is dealing with a huge mess because of the snow and ice. The mayor and governor just held a press conference. The live desk will get you up to date on that. Storm team4 meteorologist chuck bell will get you up to date on the weather and the warming trend, i really hope so. He says weve got some Better Weather coming. And in the next half hour, well also take an indepth changes by creigh im un yang at the live desk. The governor of georgia has declared a state of emergency and has called in the National Guard to rescue children and drivers stranded. Now, thousands of drivers are going on 22hoursplus stuck on roadways in atlanta after winter storm paralyzed the city. 1,200 crashes have been reported in the city. Look at this video now. Its walltowalekars there. Atlantas mayor spoke about what he says caused this mess in the first place. The error, and we have shared responsibility for the error, was everybody letting out at once, which caused a massive traffic jam. So privatesector businesses, the government, and the School System all let out at once. And so, during the day we have 1 million to 2 million in the city, and all of those people were out in very bad weather. Hundreds of schoolchildren spent the night stuck in their schools, as well, because it was too dangerous for buses to move and parents could not reach their children either. Well have much more on the story, the latest on news4 and on nbcwashington. Com. Barbara . Thank you, un. One good story to come out of traffics nightmare, a Police Officer helped deliver a baby girl alone the highway last night. Officer Tim Sheffield told the today show he was on his way to an accident when he spotted the car on the side of the road. When i got there, you know, the dad it was just happening right then, so i had time to get the glove and then the baby had the head had the father started pulling, and i said, no, no, dont pull, and the baby come out, and it just happened that quick. How exciting. An ambulance did eventually take the mother and daughter to the hospital. Were told both are doing well this morning. Well, take a look at this photo we posted on our Facebook Page. The capitol looks like its in a snow globe. Isnt that beautiful . This was taken just as last nights state of the Union Address was wrapping up. 800 liked this photo on our nbc washington Facebook Page. Wed love to see your pictures. Send them to isee nbcwashington. Com. Were going to check in with chuck bell for the latest on the forecast. Hes outside on the storm team4 weather deck. Did you finally get to see that picture just now . I did. Ive been hearing about that picture all morning long and hadnt had a chance to get a real good look at it. Beautiful picture there. Of course, wed love to see your snow pictures. Please, send them on to the isee washington address, or the storm team4 Facebook Page, and heres the Reston Town Center looking westbound. Thats the control tower at dulles right there. Plenty of snow still lingering on the ground, though they didnt get anything yesterday. The view from Prince Georges County with the capitol Beltway Crossing the potomac in the distance, lots of ice on the potomac and cant say it often enough. None of the ice that you see on the local pond, streams, creeks, river, knob of that ice is thick enough to hold anybody safely. So stay off the ice. Theres the view again from the tower cam, looking down over the Memorial Bridge in the foreground, and thats the control tower at reagan airport on the righthand side of the screen. Its cold. Yeah, the suns out. But its only 18 degrees downtown, and its going to stay in the upper teens to low 20s for the next couple of hours. Event yoully up into the mid20s, and another night with singledigit low temperatures in the suburbs by tomorrow morning. When i see you next, barbara, well talk again about the beginning of melt counsel and the warmer weather for the weekend. See you in a few. All right. We want to hear that. Thanks a lot. Virginia state senator creigh deeds says the Mental Health system failed his son. The politician is speaking out about what happened the day his son attacked him and the changes that need to be made to the Mental Health system. Dr. Josh weiner joins us with more on the changes. Lets talk about it. Deeds is proposing that the commonwealth create a psychiatric bed registry, and expand the time limit for emergency Custody Orders. Can you explain what that means . So an emergency Custody Order is an order by a magistrate where somebody can be held for up to six hours, for them to be observed and a determination to be made as to whether or not they need to be hospitalized, even against their own will. So he wants to extend that to 24 hours. Allowing people more time for observation. So i think thats a good idea. I think that, you know, six hours is kind of a difficult period of time in which to make a quick decision about whether somebodys imminently in danger of doing something to themselves or to others. The psychiatric bed registry, that was an issue in the son gus, they were trying to get his son hospitalized. There werent any hospitals that had availability, from the ones they called, but since they found out that nearby hospitals did have availability, just waneveryone to be aware where there are beds, so in certain situations, you can get a loved one hospitalized if need be. Do you think even though creigh deeds had seen this behavior that made him feel his son needed to be hospitalized, could his son have had a jekyll hyde reaction once he got to the hospital . Yes, you can. So sometimes people theyre just barely able to hold it together, where when theyre in a controlled environment, maybe when a Police Officer is evaluating them, or a Mental Health professional, they can just hold it together so they look like theyre doing better than they actually are. Which is why this situation, as ive talked about numerous times, with trying to determine whether somebodys imminently dangerous to themselves or others, is so, so difficult for doctors and psychiatrists and Mental Health professionals. Its just so difficult to assess whether somebodys really going to do something, because people can hold it together. They can fake it for just enough time to be let go. How big is the problem of not being enough beds available . Is that a its a very big problem. In particular for everybody, both adults and kids. But i see this as an even bigger problem for kids, because theres such a shortage of beds. There are people who need their kids to be hospitalized and theyre sitting around, waiting for a week, two weeks sometimes before their kid can be hospitalized. Again, people need to recognize if somebody is imminently dangerous, they can be held against their will even if theres no psychiatric bed available. You can be held for up to 72 hours, but by the end of the 72 hours, you have to go in front of the judge, and a determination needs to be made as to whether they continue to hold you or whether they let you go. It has to be pretty scary for a family to have a child that they know has a problem, frustrate federal government they cant get help and the child refuses to get help, or the adult refuses help. Its terrible. I deal with this in my practice. Just this week i had this situation. You think we need a big change . We do need changes. We need to look at the laws. We need to decrease the i think we need to lessen the criteria that are necessary for somebody to be hospitalized against their will. And i really think we have to focus a lot on treatment of Mental Illness in kids, because if you can address a lot of the issues when theyre young, where you still have a say, you can prevent some of these problems as people get older. A good point. All right, thank you very much, dr. Weiner. The explorer of the sea cruise ship will dock back in new jersey today, two days before it was scheduled to come home. More than 600 passengers aboard became sick during the cruise liners trip to the caribbean. Members of the centers for Disease Control boarded the boat earlier this week to try to pinpoint the outbreak of the sickness. Ships medical team says the problem appears to be a noro virus, a fastmoving and contagious stomach bug. And right now, police in Silver Spring are looking for the person who robbed this pharmacy. 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