Williams 6 month suspension from nightly news. This morning how his comments about an experience covering the war in iraq led to williams temporary removal. And stewart stunner. John stewart says he plans to leave the daily show after 16 years. In my heart i know its time for someone else. The announcement rocking hollywood, washington and his millions of fans today wednesday, february 11, 2015. Announcer from nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Good morning. Welcome to today on a wednesday morning. Apparently when jon stewart made that announcement there were kind of gasps. Its hard to imagine the late night landscape without jon stewart. He has done so much. He should be proud of those 16 years. Well have more on that stunner. We start with our top story, a sad one. A tribute to american aid worker Kayla Mueller who died in the hands of isis. Tributes are growing. President obama is vowing to bring her captors to justice. Nbcs Andrea Mitchell broke the story of kaylas death. Its not only devastating for her family its a blow to officials who spent 18 months trying to save her. On orders of the president. For 18 months the white house agonized over her fate. Bright, compassionate, as the president told ben smith of buzz feed. My Immediate Reaction is heart break. Reporter the evidents to save her included a special forces raid last july. It missed finding kayla and 3 other americans late are beheaded by only a day or two. For months her family senator, john mccain circled the region seeking help from foreign leaders. I want to express the deepest condolences to kaylas parents. Reporter there was talk of a prisoner trade but no relenting on the u. S. Policy of not paying ransom. Its as tough as anything i do having conversation with parents who understandably want by any means necessary for their children to be safe. Reporter and five months after the u. S. Started battling isis, the president is today asking for War Authority from a deeply divided congress. The challenge will be to more narrowly define how american Ground Troops can be used. Precedent of somehow congress is setting restrictions or parameters around the commander in chief were violating the constitution. Reporter the proposal the white house accepted rules out enduring offensive ground force and limits the war to three years, but many say that Kayla Muellers death is one sign of how hard its going to be to defeat this terror group. Matt and savannah. Brings it home. Thank you so much. Even in her darkest days Kayla Mueller managed to find the brighter side and her life is honored as we mentioned in her hometown. Nbcs joe fryer is there. Joe, good morning to you. Reporter good morning, matt. In prescott, arizona mueller is remembered for how she lived through stories shared by her family and through her own words. Byy every account kaylas death could never shadow her life. She has done more in her 26 years than any can imagine doing. Reporter the news is resonating from her hometown across the country people are touched by her letter written last spring while in captivity and smuggled out by cellmates. Please know that i am in a safe location, completely unharmed and healthy, she wrote, ive been treated with the utmost respect and kindness. She told her parents, the thought of your pain is the source of my own, simultaneously the hope of our reunion is the source of my strength. She had a quiet calming presence, she was a free spirit, always standing up for those who were suffering and wanting to be their voice. Reporter u. S. Officials tell nbc news relatives appeared a photo where she appeared to be dead but the cause of death is unclear. Isis claimed mueller was killed in a Jordanian Air strike. Uss officials have seen no proof. Mueller was captured in august of 2013 near aleppo, working for aid groups along the turkishsyrian border. Her passion raising awareness about refugees. Im not sure how to live in a World Without kayla but i do know that were all living in a better world because of her. Reporter one more note about muellers letter. She could only write it little by little a paragraph at a time. Plans are under way to honor her including at her alma mater, Northern Arizona university. Thank you. Even in her death her words inspiring. Take time to read them if you have the chance. The weather continues to be a big story. The eastern half of the country braising for what is expected to be the coldest ae season. And for an already snow weary northeast, yes, more storms on the way. Nbcs dylan dreyer is in boston for us. Good morning to you. Good morning, savannah. Higher and higher, theres no place to put the snow but up. And with rerentless snow we have resorted to carving these mazes in the snow so people have a place to walk. With more snow on the way, this area is doing whatever they can to clear away the snow and new englanders are doing what they can to grin and bear it. Its become an excavation without end. Boston buried under feet of snow with another storm on the way. So much snow the city is rebelling again. Dumping it in the harbor. Even the plow drivers have had enough. What has this been like for you . Its a boom but tiring. Reporter a vehicle is clearing the train tracks to fwlast away the snow. The transit shutdown stretched into a second day. Were running an extremely aged system that is getting a pounding every day. Reporter on the rooftop, snow, and more snow. The weight building up for weeks causing collapses. A piano store badly damaged. People in boston are following the forecast closer than a red sox pennant race. So far more than 77 inches of snow has fallen, leading to more than 230,000 miles plowed and nearly 60,000 tons of salt spread. I stopped by my scissorinlaws house to find out how her family is handing all of the snow days. Six so far. You having fun . Having fun. Yeah . Fun for the kids. How about the adults . I personally dont mind the snow days. I feel like life is so crazy, every other day of the year its nice to stop. And like do this. Now my nephew told me he wore his pajama pot toms inside out, that was his superstition to get a delayed opening this morning. That didnt happen. All schools are back in session. I think the other superstitions are work, the ones that make it not snow because tomorrow nights storm isnt looking like all that big of a deal anymore. But the next one not so great. You become the greatest aunt in america. Thats pretty cool. Can i slide . Yeah dylan dreyer. Here until tuesday. Literally. Anyway, this is the first clipper coming through very light stuff. A few light snow showers thats going to be the worst of it. It pushes through, moves through quickly wednesday on into tomorrow. It sets up off the coast with a secondary system. May be accumulating snow in southeastern massachusetts. The big news is is the bitter cold that this brings in. 9 in buffalo for tomorrow afternoon, 30 in washington, d. C. , 16 in boston, saturday morning the temperatures drop. Overnight low of minus 1 in boston. 14 detroit, roanoke 23, by sunday morning its 14 in roanoke, 6 in lexington, 2 in buffalo, and this second storm, this is the one were worried about, the snow will increase in the northeast. It sets up off the coast bringing in strong winds of 50 miles per hour, dangerous wind chills and this is what were concerned about. Were looking at heavier snow, boston into new york, we could be talking about another 6 to 9 inches of snow if the latest models hold true. Thank you. And now we turn to a story that hits close to home for all of us who work at nbc news. Brian williams whose anchored nightly news since 2004, has been suspended from his job for six months. Nbc National CorrespondentPeter Alexander has more on that. Good morning to you. Good morning to you. The suspension follows nearly two weeks of scrutiny and uncertainty in the wake of comments that Brian Williams made about his experience covering the early days of the iraq war in 2003. Brian williams has been suspended without pay for six months, as anchor and managing editor of nbcs nightly news a role since 2004. Nbc news president Deborah Turness announced the suspension tuesday saying williams misrepresented events regarding an incident that occurred during his coverage of the iraq war in 2003. She called that wrong and completely inappropriate for someone in brians position. In this report, in 2003, williams did not say the helicopter he was in took fire. On the ground we learned the chinook ahead of us was almost blown out of the sky. But in 2013, williams told David Letterman he was on the chopper that was hit. Two of our four helicopters were hit. By ground fire including the one i was in. Kidding. A week and a half ago on nightly news williams paid tribute to reteared Sergeant Major tim tur pack. When the helicopter we were in was forced down after being hit by an rpg. Soldiers on the helicopters in 2003 questioned the account leading to this onair apology a week ago. I want to apologize. I said i was traveling in an aircraft hit by rpg fire. I was instead in a following aircraft. In addition to the suspension, nbc news says its internal review is ongoing. Turness stating we have concerns about comments that occurred outside nbc news, while brian was talking p his experiences in the field. Its been widely reported that questions have been raised about comments williams made describing his coverage of hurricane katrina. Including claims he saw a body floating outside his hotel. An outstanding journalist, a great anchorman. I have Great Respect but i think this was an instance where you cant really find an excuse for it. And i think thats why nbc had to act. Steve burke, said by his actions brian has jeopardized the trust millions placed in nbc news. His actions are inexcusable and the suspension is severe and appropriate. Brians lifes work is delivering the news. I know brian loves his country and nbc news and his colleagues, he deserves a Second Chance and we are rooting for him. Brian has shared his deep remorse with me and he is committed to winning back everyones trust. As part of the statement nbc news president also announced that lester holt will continue to substitute anchor the nbc nightly news. Peter, thank you. It probably goes without saying for you folks at home but this is a very difficult story for us to report on because it is so, so personal in so many ways. Most importantly brian is not only a colleague of ours here but he is a really good friend. We all care a lot about brian. Thats what makes this hard. We also care a lot about this place, the standards of nbc news and thats what nbc is trying to balance here. So we can only say we wish the best for brian in this time. We hope the best for nbc as well. And we look forward to brians return. Can we say also a thank you to lester holt who brings his enormous skills on an interim basis during difficult time. The news this morning a deadly shooting. Right. Its disturbing news out of North Carolina this morning. Able alleged gunman is charged with triple murder after the shooting deaths ofth muslim students. It happened tuesday night near the university of North Carolina in chapel hill. The victims were related. Two of them in the early 20s, the other 19. The suspect, 46yearold Craig Steven Hicks turned himself in. Police have not released a motive or said whether the gunman knew his victims. The few americans left at the u. S. Embassy in yemen have been moved and the facility closed according to the state department. Yemen has been in crisis and shiite rebels took over much of the country. Britain also closed its embassy there but for now there are no plans for evacuation of american citizens in the country. Two people were iled, more than 60 others injured after a massive pileup in south korea involving about 100 vehicles. It happened early this morning on a bridge near the airport. Officials say thick fog and icy conditions are to blame. Witnesses say they could only see about ten yards ahead of them. The Little League team that won last years u. S. National championship Jackie Robinson west, has been stripped of its title. Little League Officials determined that the chicago area squad used a falsified boundary map and used ineligible players who live outside the area the team represents. The manager has been suspended from Little League activity and the u. S. Championship has been awarded to mount tan ridge Little League from las vegas. And powerball fever sweeping the nation. Tonights jackpot now a whopping 485 million. Its the fifth largest lottery prize in history. If you happen to match all five numbers and the powerball you can choose the cash option, and net 327 million. We can all dream. But the chances of winning, about 1 in 175 million. Office pool, right. Worth a shot. Ill buy the tickets. Mr. Roker. Coming up were going to play boston versus who is snowier. First your local forecast in the next 30 seconds. Good morning to you. The time is 7 16. Taking a look at beautiful downtown san jose. Very little cloud cover to show you. A lovely warming trend coming your way that will extend well into your valentines day saturday. Up to 76 degrees by the end of the week. Well see really warm temperatures over the weekend. If you want to hit the beach, we have some really goodlooking weather to show you. Im going to show you that in my next report. Show you the warmest beaches. And we do have a warning for beachgoers as well. Thats your latest weather. Jon stewart dropped a bombshell after 16 years of Comedy Central, stewart announced he will step down later this year. Willie has that story. Good morning. Good morning to you. Jon stewart took a half hour late night comedy show and turned it into a fixture. Not only in American Television but in politics and culture as well. From actors to politicians, to those of us in the media, no one was spared the wrath of his sharp commentary. His criticism and of course his humor. The late night landscape is shifting yet again. His show doesnt deserve an even slightly restless host. Neither do you. In my hearty know its time for someone else to have that opportunity. Jon stewart Holding Back Emotions in front of a stunned daily show audience. I dont think ill miss being on television every day. Ill miss coming here every day. This is where i love the people here. Theyre the best. I love them and respect them so much. We love you jon stewart took over the daily show from craig kill born in 1999. I feel like this is my bar mitzvah. Since then hes won 19 emmys, interviewed the biggest newsmakers. I know your father is backstage. Would he be mad if i adopted you . Left countless public figures in his comedic wake. The most joy ive gotten from an old man since dick cheney nonfatally shot one in the face. The daily show changed the late night landscape because it brought bite along with the humor to late night. With the daily show he wasnt afraid to go after people. He launched the careers of some of the biggest names in comedy, including steve carell, john will ifr and Stephen Colbert. Aloha, jon. In 2013 he took his first steps away from the desk spending the summer directing his first movie, rose water. Here in november promoting the film he joked about his possible life after the daily show. Foalcal bum. As for his real plans, stewart has a lot of ideas he says. But first im going to have dinner on a school night with my family who i have heard from multiple sources are lovely people. Theres still no word on when exactly jons last show will be. His contract is officially up in september. Regardless of when it happens, if colbert star studded goodbye is any indication jon stewarts will be a sendoff not to be missed. Hard to be funny five nights a week. He did it for 15 years and lets be honest kept a lot of us in the press on our toes. When it comes to what he does next hell write his own every option available. Willie thank you. Tamron a lot of people on the internet talking about mr. Stewart. You think . Oh indeed matt. Indeed. Stewarts announcement took social media by storm. Here are numbers. Nearly 250,000 tweets guys mentioning just the daily show. That doesnt include, of course tweets. We miss you jon, et cetera et cetera. Just the daily show. 250,000 tweets. Comedy central, of course sending out a tweet in part saying he is a comic genius generous with his time and talents. He will always be part of the Comedy Central family. Thats not in part. Thats the total. Ryan seacrest says jon stewart, thanks for all youve done to make us think, learn and laugh. And a fan of the show wrote this. I regret to inform you that we are unable to accept your resignation at this time. Sincerely. Literally, everyone. The best part about this tweet, this woman is not famous. Her tweet was shared and favorited 14,000 times. Just that with the hash tag jon stewart. Imagine, theyll keep coming. We cant wait to see whats next for all of us guys. Tamron thank you so much. Coming up bring on the bacon. Listen up al the guidelines for cholesterolfilled food are about to get a Surprising New makeover. Return of the egg. Plus Opening Statements beginning today in the man accused of killing american sniper, chris kyle. Will the popularity of that movie impact this case . First, this is today on nbc. Our vision for partnering with more farmers, growers manufacturers is that eventually organic and natural will be the norm. For raleys that means a lot more organic and natural options on the shelf. And for our consumers, that means having a lot more affordable and readily available, Healthy Products to feed their families. Sustainability is about making a difference in our community. Its about being happy, healthy and well for many years to come. To learn more, visit raleys family of stores on youtube. Coming up the first lady gives g