Were going to track the storm for you straight ahead. And another day, another big fat no deal for the fiscal cliff. We go live to washington. The very latest details. And Michael Phelps pick for the athlete of the year. This is a surprise. This guy, he never wins anything. Good morning. Welcome to early start, everyone. Im john berman. Im Zoraida Sambolin. Its nice to have you with us. It is early, 5 00 a. M. In the east. The fury of the first winter storm is making Holiday Travel very difficult if not impossible. Today new england is expected to get slammed by that storm. At least seven trafficrelated deaths in four states are blamed on this crazy Severe Weather. As the storm barrelled through the plains and the great lakes, more than a foot of wet, heavy snow fell in parts of iowa and wisconsin. There were hundreds of Flights Canceled right at the height of the Holiday Travel, as you very well know. Check this out. Power lines sparking. Look at that. And snapping. Holy wow. And the storms worst, 400,000 power customers in the region had no electricity. That number was down to 133,000 by yesterday afternoon. Rob marciano, you are busy tracking it all at the cnn Weather Center in atlanta. What can we expect today . This storm moving east. Its going to impact even more people. Millions across the east coast in the form of wind and rain, which will slow down travel, also knock out more power. The snow continues to come down in many spots. The video just doesnt get old here. Were talking about blizzard conditions that impacted places yesterday across eastern kansas, parts of missouri and through iowa where the huge car pileup was and across wisconsin as well. These are some of the numbers. 18. 5 inches in middleton, wisconsin. Washington, wisconsin, seeing 16 inches. Madison setting a record at 13. 3. Dubuque, iowa, over a foot of snow. Massive, massive system. The white obviously indicating the snow. Thats spiraling back around through chicago. Strong winds off Lake Michigan. Winds battering the indiana and illinois coastline. This will continue to push toward the east. More snow coming down. The heaviest amounts will begin to wind down, unless you live downwind of one of the great lakes. That lake effect snow will kick into gear. New york, a messy, messy start to your day. Philadelphia as well. All up and down the i5 corridor where its a bit of a mix. Winter storm watches and advisories are posted. The i95 corridor will be mostly in the form of rain today. Big travel day, obviously, for the holidays. Its going to put the brakes on chicago, new york, boston, all the northeast airports. As lots of people are trying to travel in and out. Thank you so much. Joining us to talk about the conditions in chicago is carmen assula from the Illinois Department of transportation. Good morning. Good morning. Lets talk about the conditions right now. Whats the situation there . Right now the temperatures are under freezing, so were watching for freeze back conditions, the fact that the temperatures didnt decline until after midnight helped out a lot with the snowfall. There was less accumulation. There is blowing and drifting in the outlying areas. Chicago expressways are still wet, and people need to be cautious as freeze back will occur. Yeah, you got to be caful what you ask for, right . There has been no snow in chicago for so long. Then you kind of get pummelled by it. I know that we mentioned this morning that there was some devastating accidents across the region there. Have you had any in the area there . No, northeastern illinois did not get the same snowfall and accumulation that was experienced to the west of the state. And how do you think that the snow is going to affect travel for people . This is at the height of the season. A lot of people are traveling by car. What do you expect . Well, listening to the predictions, the rain is heading east, so they need to be cautious and add extra time and just be careful out there. How about black ice . Have you been suffering from that condition out there . Sporadic. Again, the temperatures held in the region i represent. It wasnt as bad as has been in the past. They should always be cautious. And no deadly accidents, right . No. Thats actually fortunately. Really, really good news. Hopefully people are heeding the warning. Thank you. Thank you. Severe weather in alabama uprooted a mercedes dealerships massive billboard and sent it crashing into an suv. Strong winds downed power poles and other debris damaged some 50 vehicles. The offices there were hammered. Nearly every storm window at the dealership was blown out. Of course, you can stay with cnn. Were not getting too far away from this weather system. Well continue to track the storm throughout the morning and the day for you. So theres no blizzard in washington, but there was something of a political tornado overnight. An epic, epic defeat for House Speaker john boehner with just 11 days to go before the nation falls off the fiscal cliff. Theres an enormous amount of uncertainty. House members were sent home last night after the speaker was forced to cancel a vote on his plan b, which would have extended the bush era tax cuts on incomes it below 1 million. You know, it was House Republicans who abandoned him. His simple statement read, the house did not take up the tax measure today because it did not have sufficient support from our members to pass. Now its up to the president to work with senator reid on legislation to avert the fiscal cliff. Wow. All right. So cnn Political EditorPaul Steinhauser is in washington. This is a big deal. This is a very big deal. You could say this is a big black eye, big slap in the face for Speaker Boehner. He pushed plan b to prevent taxes going up for nearly all americans. John, lets be honest, the move here was a hope to shift the blame if there was no deal to avert the fiscal cliff. Shift the blame to the democrats and to the president. Well, none of that is happening now. It also weakens the hand of the House Speaker because he cant get the votes from his own caucus to raise tax rates on only millionaires. Heres the congressman from ohio, a republican. He spoke after the vote. Hes a big backer of john boehner. Take a listen. It weakens the entire republican party, the republican majority. Its a continuing dumbing down of the republican party, and we are going to be seen for more and more as a bunch of extremists that cant get a majority of our own people to support policies were putting forward. If youre not a governing majority, youre not going to be a majority. Hes retiring after the end of this year. As for the house, theyre gone now pretty much until after christmas. Thats where things stand in the house of representatives. So the speaker said its up to the president to work with the senate. Walk me how through this would work. You know, i wish i could. Dana bash covered this last night on the hill. Theres a lot of question marks. The speaker did say he would try to continue to negotiate with the president. At the same time, the big question is what happens on the senate side . Does the Senate Majority leader harry reid start getting involved . What about Mitch Mcconnell . How involved will he get . Heres a statement from the white house last night after the failure or after the no vote. The president s main priority is to ensure taxes dont go up on 98 of americans and 98 of Small Businesses. The president will work with congress to get this done, and were hopeful to find a bipartisan solution that protectings the middle class and our economy. Good luck on that. The senate will be here today. You have the Funeral Service in washington for the late senator of hawaii. A lot go to hawaii tomorrow for the funeral. The senate will probably be back after christmas. Who knows whats going to happen. Like you said, this is really uncharted territory. Who knows how this is going to shake down. All we know is theres 11 days left to figure it out. Thanks very much. Is this a lethal blow to boehner, do you think . Lethal may be going far. Does hurt him. Rt question is, can Speaker Boehner influence his own party in the house . This may weaken his position. Absolutely crazy. You know what looks a heck of a lot like the fiscal cliff negotiations . The hockey season. Its not looking good. The nhl has now canceled games through midjanuary because of the labor dispute. More than 600 games have been scrubbed. Thats half the leagues entire schedule for the year. Players can decide today if they want to claim the lockout is illegal and sue owners. Thats one more step in this whole mess. Who knows when theyre going to play hockey again. Why not cancel the season . I think people would love it if they would work out first of all, people only like the hockey playoffs. Thats up in the air right now. So not that he needed a career capper, but Michael Phelps has been named male athlete of the year by the associated press. He edged out lebron james. The 27yearold retired after the london games this summer where he won four gold medals and two silver. He finished his career with 18 gold medals and 22 overall. That, my dear friends, is more than any other olympian ever in history. He never gets the recognition. Poor guy. Want to talk about an olympian dealing with other issues . A threetime olympian admits to doing a little escorting on the side. Well tell you who after this break. 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. 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One week ago today, 20 kids and 6 adults were getting ready for school in newtown, connecticut. Those 26 innocents were gunned down in cold blood inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School. This morning at 9 30 eastern time, the country is invited to observe a moment of silence along with newtown. Theres been an endless procession of grief to remember all of these victims. Three more funerals will be held today. This morning at 9 30 eastern time in connecticut and across the entire nation, a moment of silence will be observed followed by the ringing of church bells. That will happen 26 times. Cnns poppy harlow is live in newtown, connecticut. Good morning to you, poppy. Reporter good morning, zoraida. You see the volunteers behind me here. 5 00 a. M. In the morning, theyre working trying to keep this makeshift memorial beautiful for this town. Its one of so many that has sprung up across newtown. At 9 30 eastern this morning, the world will be grieving and remembering with this entire community, that moment of silence will be felt around the world. Also, youre going to hear church bells ringing across this town 26 to 28 times for all of the victims. The president himself, the white house says, will also observe a moment of silence at 9 30. Governors from across this country from pennsylvania to florida have asked all of the people in their state to stop for one moment and remember all of the victims of newtown. This is just one week, just one week since this tragedy. The pain here, i can tell you, ive been here all week, it is raw. It is still so real, as you mentioned. Three more funerals today. Some for the child victims. You cant put into words the grief here. They will be remembered today in a very beautiful way. You mentioned, poppy, that the bells will be ringing between 26 and 28 times. Theres been a lot of controversy about whether or not in all of this grieving you include the shooter and his mother. Reporter it really depends which church or which entity is ringing the bell. Some will ring them 26 times for the 20 children that were killed, the 6 adults at sandy hook. Some will ring them 27 times to include nancy lanza. Some will ring them 28 times for adam lanza. Michelle obama penned a letter that everyone will see here today when they wake up. I want to read you an excerpt. He said her heart grieves, aches for all of these families. Shes a mother of two. She understands the pain. She also said, zoraida, that she was so touched by the outpouring of support from the First Responders in newtown, from everyone who has helped in this community. That really stood out to me in the letter that the first lady wrote to the local paper here. Again, that will be one of the things that greets this community this morning. Zoraida. Really appreciate that. Thank you so much, poppy. Live for us in newtown, connecticut. This was organized by the head of gamer fit nation. Hes calling on all gamers to put down their controllers and stop firing virtual bullets in order to remember those who were killed by real bullets in newtown a week ago. I think thats a really interesting tribute. Its really great. I was talking to a mom yesterday in newtown who said, you know, that the shooter, that she looks at him as a disabled little boy. She was a teacher once upon a time. She said we have to include him. We cant leave him out. Its an interesting perspective because i know its caused a lot of controversy. Its hard for a lot of people. Very difficult. All right. 17 minutes after the hour. Lets go to Christine Romans for the headlines. Parts of new england preparing for a bitter start to the weekend. The deadly winter blast that barrelled through the midwest heads there today. At least seven traffic related deaths in four states are blamed on the storm. Severe weather also snarled air travel. Hundreds of flights had to be canceled at the height of Holiday Travel. Threetime olympian Suzy Favor Hamilton said depression led her to be a 6 an hour prostitute. She said she thought no one would ever find out. Times are tough even if you just won reelection. President obama is scaling back his inaugural celebration with just two official inaugural balls following a swearing in ceremony on january 21st. Its the fewest number of inaugural parties in 60 years. The president had ten in 2009 after his firstterm victory. The shootings in newtown, connecticut, have inspired a new trend on social media, 26 acts of kindness. It began with ann curry suggested her followers could perform acts of kindness. The hashtag 26 acts is now trending. Thats really sweet. Some good things have really come out of this. Im happy to see that. Thank you so much, christine. I have seen to many people on twitter talking about this. All right. It is 18 minutes past the hour. Time for your early reads, your local news making national headlines. A newtown boy asked kids to dump the violent video games. Here he is, 12yearold max with the help of his father is setting up a bin outside the Newtown Youth Academy sports center. Hes encouraging kids to dump their violent video games in there, and hes leading the way. Hes calling his came painpaign played out. Hes an avid call of duty player and doesnt think it affected him in a negative way, but says that everything has changed. I think that makes a lot of people think twice. Reflect on what you can do to make a difference. In the washington times, the u. S. On alert after the release of zero dark thirty. The film depicts interrogation tactics including waterboarding. A Senior Defense official tells the times, the u. S. Doesnt expect violent protests like after the innocence of muslims film. But theyre always on alert. For a look at all the top stories, head to our blog, cnn. Com earlystart. You can also follow us on facebook and twitter. Well be right back. 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. Your soups are so awesomely delicious my husband and i cant stop eating em whats. That. On your head . Can curlers tomato basil, potato with bacon. Weve got a lot of empty cans. [ male announcer ] progresso. You gotta taste this soup. So youre looking at new york city right now where the weather is not nice. I believe the scientific term is foggy and nasty and gross. I kind of liked it this morning. I felt this burst of fresh air. Youre strange. 23 minutes after