Dashing through the snow it is Holiday Travel, folks, threatened by a blizzard. You have to put up with the snow and the singing. The once promising talks b bogged down again with less than two weeks to go. And getting to the bottom of the benghazi fiasco. Hearings set to start in a matter of hours from now. Good morning you to. Sorry about the singing this morning. Welcome to early start. Its 5 00 a. M. In the east. Shes been singing all morning. Were going to begin with this storm. The cause behind all the singing. It is a big one. It is pounding the nations midsection and threatening to derail Holiday Travel plans for millions of americans. What bad timing. A blizzard warning in effect for half a dozen states. Colorado has already been clobbered at 156 mile stretch of interstate 70 had to be shut down in both directions yesterday. Look at that. The storm is also hitting iowa hard overnight packing wind gusts over 50 miles an hour. The wind part of the real problem here. Some places could see a foot of snow or more. Emergency management officials as far north as wisconsin offering this advice to early christmas travelers. I think the first thing you should think about is changing your plans for thursday. You know, a lot of people getting on the road today and tomorrow for the christmas season. They have to deal with. This. And traveling with kids, you know, the delays start at airport, no fun. It could be sunny and 70 degrees and traveling with a kid aint easy. But its so bad in was was that the governor there already issued an executive order declaring a state of emergency before the storm even arrives. Lets go to meteorologist alexandra steel who is tracking this storm from atlanta. What does it look like . Of course, colorado yesterday. Texas yesterday. The roads be it the wind storms or whatever we saw. Today its i80 through iowa. Iowa will be virtually shut down. Let me show you pictures from wisconsin. You can see, of course, you heard what the governor is already doing in advance of the storm. The storm is coming in toward you, no question about that. So what were seeing and what weve already seen, thats where we are. Again for the most part. Nebraska is out of it. But hastings already eight inches on the ground. This is really this was phase one of the storm. Were getting into phase two of the storm which means more snow and incredibly stronger winds. So eight inches in hastings. Iowa, seven inches. Iowa will see an incredibly rough day. Heres where the blizzard warnings are. Were going to see a virtual shutdown of the state. The snow will be coming down. Winds will be gusting to 50 Miles Per Hour. Heres what were expecting, 6 to 12 inches of snow. Then into graeen bay, northern wisconsin could see a foot plus in terms of snowfall. So incredibly amount of snow today. More than we saw yesterday. And the winds will be so much more powerful. Places like chicago, a rainy start. But then late this afternoon and into tonight well see a change over from that rain to snow. And then look at this tight pressure gradient. It winds up and you can see, guys, the closer those lines are, the lines of equal pressure, the stronger the winds. The winds weve already seen have been strong. But the winds, the strongest yet to come. So today the midwest will be incredibly hard hit, guys . What day does it get out east . It gets to the east coast before the weekend, actually. So today were fine. Into friday night and saturday night. But it moves quickly and just a rain maker. All right. Alexandra steel, thank you very much. We were laughing about it, but this creates that black ice and really treacherous driving conditions. Folks, be careful out there. So what happened . What happened to the progress on the fiscal cliff negotiations . It is 12 days to go and a political stalemate has set in. President obama and john boehner appear to be digging in heals. He says take the deal. Meantime, the speaker intends to put his plan b up to a vote in the house today. It would extend the bush era tax cuts up to 1 million. If some democrats block it, the president becomes responsible for the tax hikes that kick in when the nation goes over that fiscal cliff. Cnn Political EditorPaul Stein Houser is in washington this morning. Your job is to explain all of this to us. It really seems like a way theyre playing a game of political chicken right here. You heard the president and House Speaker come in front of cameras within two hours of each other. Both men were really talking against each other. It was not very optimistic. Youre right, optimism of earlier in the week dissipated. Take a listen to what both men said. Well, we dont have that sound. Both men really talking against each other there. Heres the sound. The president s offer of 1. 3 trillion in revenues and 850 billion in spending reductions fails to meet a balanced approach. I hope that the president will get serious soon about providing and working with us on a balanced approach. At some point theres got to be i think a recognition on the part of my republican friends that take the deal. You know, they will be able to claim that they have worked with me over the last two years to reduce the deficit more than any other deficit reduction package. The president made his comments after an event on gun control after an announcement on gun control. Mr. Boehner, his News Conference lasted 56 seconds. He stormed off after making his comments. Does he have the votes for plan b . Also, where do the negotiations for a wider settlement stand . Of course, if will is no agreement by the end of the year, the country falls off the fiscal cliff, that means higher taxes for almost all americans and massive spending cuts. The other question is how do americans feel about this . And you have brand new poll numbers to share with us. I can only imagine. We do have brand new poll numbers. This is a National Poll coming out right now at this hour. As other polls indicated, americans are siding more with the democrats. Take a look at this. Which party should compromise more to get a wider deal, to get Bipartisan Solutions . Nor people say the republicans should compromise than the democrats. And who would be more responsible if the fiscal cliff occurs . The socalled blame game. Once again, more people would blame republicans. 48 say republicans and congress would be to blame. 38 say the president. 1 say both sides would be at blame. Again, 12 days to go before that fiscal cliff. Paul steinhouser flif washington, thank you. Other big news in washington. Theyre dealing with the fallout from that report on benghazi. One state Department Official resigned, three others on disciplinary administrative leave after a review cited systemic failures in leadership and management deficiencies. Tuesday Department Officials are set to testify at 8 00 a. M. Eastern time this morning. And we now know that next month secretary of state Hillary Clinton will testify before the House Foreign Affairs committee about the attacks on benghazi as one of her advisors told the chairwoman of the panel. Clinton is said to be feeling better after suffering concussion in a fainting spell. Thats good news. Seven minutes past the hour. President obama is now declaring a gun control or that gun control is a issue in his second term. He insists hell use all the powers his presidency to push through meaningful reforms. The vast majority of responsible law abiding gun owners would be some of first to say we should be able to keep an irresponsible, law breaking few from buying a weapon of war. Im willing to bet that they dont think that using a gun and using common sense are incompatible ideas. He also said that the dialogue, hell have dialogue but hes not going to have a lot of dialogue. Hes going to push things through very quickly. Vice President Biden is tapped to spear head to push new gun control laws through congress. He wants them back next month. South korea elected its first female president. Park is the daughter of a military dig dater. Park is promising greater engagement with north korea. It is show time for u. P. S. Todays peak shipping day will be the busiest in its history. The men and women in brown will deliver 28 million packages in the united states. Thats about 300 parcells every second, folks. Tomorrow is the deadline. It feels like theyre shipping a lot of coal to washington right now with this fiscal cliff thing. Check your stockings there in washington for that. It is nine minutes after the hour. Detectives investigating the Newtown School shooting retracing the steps of the gunmans mother in the days before the attack. Well tell what you they found. And the new trend among americas teenagers that you parents are going to want to hear about. [ male announcer ] how could a luminous protein in jellyfish, impact Life Expectancy in the u. S. , real estate in hong kong, and the optics industry in germany . At t. Rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. Its just one reason over 75 of our mutual funds beat their 10year lipper average. T. Rowe price. Invest with confidence. Request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. I just served my motherinlaw your chicken noodle soup but she loved it so much. I told her it was homemade. Everyone tells a little white lie now and then. But now she wants my recipe [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] shes right behind me isnt she . [ male announcer ] progresso. You gotta taste this soup. [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] shes right behind me isnt she . We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of tim and laura. Its amazing how appreciative ople are when you tell them they could save a lot of money on their Car Insurance by switching to geico. They may even make you their best man. May i have the rings please . Ah, helzberg diamonds. Nice choice, mate. And now in the presence of these guests we join this loving couple. Oh dear. Geico. 15 minutes could save you 15 or more on Car Insurance. Try running four. Ning a restaurant is hard, fortunately weve got ink. It gives us 5x the rewards on our internet, phone charges and cable, plus at Office Supply stores. Rewards we put right back into our business. This is the only thing weve ever wanted to do and ink helps us do it. Make your mark with ink from chase. Get selsun blue for itchy dry scalp. Strong itchfighters target scalp itch while 5 moisturizers leave hair healthy. Selsun blue. Got a clue . Get the blue. We have new details leading up to thetown massacre. The mother was in New Hampshire taking a vacation the days before. She felt comfortable enough to leave her son adam lanza alone to for three days. The morning after her return, she was dead. Take a look at this photo. All but one of the students in this First Grade Class picture, they were killed. All but one. Another reminder of the enormity of this tragedy. And there is no end to the outpouring of emotions. Some 3,000 people gathering in western Connecticut University to mourn and honor all of the victims. San drashgs more victims being laid to rest today. Reporter thats right, john. Five more funerals today for the victims of the newtown shooting. Three children and two adults. 6yearold allison wyatt, 6yearold benjamin wheeler, 6yearold Catherine Hubbard and teachers lauren rousso and Ann Marie Murphy will be laid to rest today. Being here for several days now, john, we have seen processions and funeral arrangements and these rituals have become a way of life here in newtown. And very sad. You can see the private pain becoming very public shared grief for this community and being felt around the country, actually, as more and more people come to newtown to pay their respects. You mentioned a big tribute last night. 3,000 people gathered in a neighboring town to memorialize the victims of this tragedy. They came together, trying to be uplifting, to offer comfort and support for the residents here in newtown. Again, the funeral pro sections coming through town has unfortunately become a way of life here and will continue for days to come. John . And tomorrow, sandra, of course, is the one week anniversary of the shooting. Whats being planned for that . Reporter obviously, its going to be a very sad day for residents here as they remember the exact time, 9. 30678 9 30 is when the gun shots rang out. To commemorate that moment in time, we understand that church bells across this area will ring 26 times, 20 times for the children who were killed and six times for the teachers and the staff and the faculty members who died in that tragedy. So, again, a very important moment for this town as they reflect on what happened here a week ago. Thats right. Another day of reflection, another somber moment for newtown, connecticut. San drashgs thanks very much. Later i have a story, three of the little girls that were killed attended this dance studio. And these teenagers actually taught them dance classes and summer classes. So they wanted to remember the girls in a positive light. And so they share all these amazing stories. Were going to bring that to you shortly here. It is 15 minutes past the hour. Lets get you up to date. Christine romans has the top stories. The top story, weather. The season as first major winter storm dumping a foost snow. Up to a foot of snow in the great planes. A live picture to you from our affiliate wisn in milwaukee. Also a stretch of interstate 70 had to be shut down in both directions from colorado to kansas. A blizzard warning is in effect in half a dozen states. In a rare move, president obama phoned the secretary of army to personally express concern about reports of abuse at the Daycare Center at ft. Mier in virginia. This week two workers at that facility were charged with assaulting a child. And a review of all the workers there found several with questionable backgrounds including records of sexual abuse of a minor, Sexual Assault, and assault. An annual survey of drug abuse among teenagers finds that marijuana use leveled off after rising stead fli that agegroup for four years in a row. For example, the study called monitoring the future finds of 6. 5 of 12th graders say they smoke marijuana daily. That is down slightly from last year. Remember this picture of the monkey in the jacket in an ikea earlier this month . The woman who owns the animal will be in court today trying to get darwin back. The owner claims Toronto Animal Services seized him illegally after he got out of her car. Hes been living in an animal sanction wary since then. I wonder if he kept the coat . A horse in palm beach, florida, jumped a fence, took a dip in a swimming pool. Veterinarians gave the 30yearold horse a sedative. Firefighters attached a harn toes andy and used a tow truck to lift him out of the pool. When its all over, andy didnt have a scratch on him. Had a nice refreshing dip in the pool. Im sure he enjoyed every moment of it. All right. 17 minutes after the hour. Time for your early reads. The local newsmaking National Headlines this morning. Were going to start with the tampa bay times. Guns were pulled off the shelves of a lone star pawnshop after the Sandy Hook School shooting. The owner says hell lose half of his business but hes doing this for his daughters. My daughter at this Point Associates firearms with evil people because of what she sees on tv and what she sees at school. My conscience overrides the need to make the money. He also said he couldnt bear think about selling the gun that might end up being used in another massacre. Thousands of miles away, but hitting a little too close to home, the sacramento bet talks about a marine who called himself to duty. Called himself to duty to guard an Elementary School in modesto. He was responding to a Facebook Post urging soldiers to be posted at every school, of course, in the wake of last weeks tragic shooting. Another retired marine dug his fatigues out of the attic and answered the call in tennessee. He wasnt getting paid and he was not armed. Several parents came up thanking him for his service. And for stepping up to make the children feel safe. It is a statement though, that has come to this. Yeah. I know. I know. Im grateful that theyre doing. That for an expanded look at our top stories, head to our blog. Can you also follow us on twitter and on facebook. Just search for early start cnn. As our leaders in washington bicker at the edge of the fiscal cliff, your tax returns hang in the balance. Find out what happens to them if there is no deal. Well tell you about it coming up. It aint pretty. Make a wish i wish we could lie here forever. I wish this test drive was over, so we could head back to the dealership. [ male announcer ] its practically yours. Test drive but we still need your signature. Volkswagen sign then drive is back. And its never been easier to get a jetta. Thats the power of german engineering. Get 0 down, 0 due at signing, 0 deposit, and 0 first months payment on any new volkswagen. Visit vwdealer. Com today. On any new volkswagen. Progressive direct and other Car Insurance companies . Yes. But youre progressive, and theyre them. Yes. But theyre here. Yes. Are you. . There . Yes. No. Are you them . Im me. 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