Those predictions in the classic series were right on. Good evening and happy new year. David is off. Im elizabeth vargas. And we ring in 2015 with dangerous weather conditions across the u. S. The years first winter blast bringing snow and freezing rain wreaking havoc on the roads. In many parts of the country, it is treacherous to start the new year. Temperatures are about to plunge as storms head east. Up to a foot of snow is expected in the rockies, and abcs Clayton Sandell starts us off there tonight. Reporter new year, new headaches for drivers across the south tonight. In oklahoma, state troopers are busy with dozens of crashes on icyslick roads. Big rigs needed big tow trucks to shove them back on the highway. Police arent sure exactly how this happened but say the ice certainly didnt help. Sand and salt are being dropped on the worst roads, trying to get ahead of a winter mess now slamming eight states. Crunching and crashing from texas i hit my brakes and i just kind of went sideways. I hit the rail over there. Reporter to nevada. I was not expecting weather like this. Reporter to give you an idea of just how hard it can be to stop on snow and ice, even in fourwheel drive. Were only going about 20 miles an hour. But when i hit the brakes, you can see it took us 110 feet to come to a complete stop. Where its not icy, its plain cold. Freeze warnings in arizona and nevada, where vegas fountains turned to mini glaciers. Southern californians waiting overnight for the rose parade lit campfires. Our big concern is hypothermia. Reporter and in dubois, wyoming, firefighters that battled a massive fire in Historic Downtown tuesday night also fought subzero tell pra sures that froze fire hoses solid. And there is more trouble ahead, as freezing rain pushes east, turning into a glaze of ice that has authorities warning everyone to please slow down. Elizabeth . All right, clayton, thank you so much. Ginger zee is here now. We just heard clayton say the system is heading east. Already advisories and warnings are out. Reporter yes, and it will be moving north and quickly. Let me take you to the current advisories and warnings. Texas and arkansas. And this is why, elizabeth. The snow not even going to be that heavy, but you dont need a lot. We know that to get slick on the roads. You can see, thats three to six inches from iowa back to parts of nebraska and wisconsin. That icy patch that includes ss texas, thats what were concerned about. Then our attention turns to this storm and what it will be for the weekend. See along the gulf coast there . That cold front could produce some severe storms in the deep south and then a lot higher than that heavy rains, anywhere from kentucky and tennessee up through washington, d. C. And new york city. On the back side quite a bit colder. Chicagos going to pick up a brief little snow on the back and certainly will be chilly right behind it. So 2015 saying oh yeah, this is winter. Oh, yeah this is winter. A huge system. All right ginger thank you so much. And we turn now to that horrifying stampede in china, just moments before midnight on new years eve. 36 people were crushed to death, dozens more were injured. Revelers at the popular waterfront district in shanghai were reporting panic just as they celebrated the new year. Abcs Hamish Macdonald has more. Reporter just minutes to midnight, the crowd surges. Someone skrooem ss sskrooems, dont rush, but this heaving mass of bodies panics and does just the opposite. People fall and become trapped. I was standing on a step and then passed out, says this student. When i woke up i found myself lying on the ground. As thousands approached the stairway leading to a viewing platform something triggered panic. People were lying on the ground everywhere, says this woman. Some unconscious, some splitting blood. Some already died. Police deny reports fake money was being thrown from a nightclub, causing the stampede. But havent yet explained what triggered this chaos. In total 36 people lost their lives. Almost 50 were injured. Adding to trauma, victims families werent allowed into the hospital. Right around the world, thats the challenge for police and new years, to let the crowds come in huge numbers. But to try and do it safely. Here in london this time they limited the turnout, by making people buy tickets. Just weeks ago, shanghai decided to reduce the size of its party so there is a question about whether the city was fully prepared for this event. Hamish macdonald, abc news, london. Hamish thank you. And we turn now to the grim search for more bodies and wreckage of asia air flight 8501. Recovery teams including a u. S. Navy ship are scouring the java sea for any sight of the planes fuselage. Time is ticking on those allimportant black boxes. Abcs Muhammad Lila has late details from indonesia. Reporter in a race against time today, only the tiniest of victories. More bodies pulled from the frigid water, a total of nine now. And the first victim returned to her family. Her name is Hayati Lutfiah hamid, identified through her fingerprints, and laid to rest in a simple coffin with a simple ceremony. Her family devastated, and bracing for more terrible news. Three more of their relatives among the 153 still missing since air asia flight 8501 disappeared from radar saturday night. We pray they will be found soon, this Family Member says. Out on the water today, the heavy rains letting up, ever so briefly, allowing recovery teams to resume their grim task. Today, the search area expanding from around 6,000 nautical miles to more than 13,000. Up to 15 planes and 30 ships now scouring the water, including the uss sampson, fitted with one of the worlds most advanced sonar tracking systems, at times fighting waves up to 15 feet high. Racing to find any debris, and any sign of those audio pings the downed jets black boxes should still be emitting. They batteries last just 30 days. And six days have now already passed. Tonight, few new clues. There is a clock ticking. The flight data recorder is going to be critical. Well be able to tell if things were normal going up to that point or if they were battered by thunderstorms. Reporter this Crisis Response center is where families have been gathering, hoping for new information. The governments been providing them with good and a place to stay, but so far, what one has given them are answers. Elizabeth . All right, muhammad thank you so much. Back in this country, the death of an ohio teenager has sparked national outrage, with reports the teen committed suicide after being shunned for being transgender. Leelah alcorn was born a boy but living as a girl. Something her family reportedly did not support. The note she left behind gives a heartbreaking glimpse into her suffering. Heres abcs linsey davis. Reporter a petition gaining momentum online tonight more than 60,000 people calling for the family of this transgender teen to put her chosen name leelah on her tombstone. This after the 17yearold born Josh Ryan Alcorn apparently committed suicide over the weekend. I hate the fact that he had to live in a hoome that didnt support him. Reporter alcorn lashing out against her devout parents and society in a suicide note on social media. The life i would have lived isnt worth living in, she wrote, because because im trans jender. Adding that her family wanted me to be their Perfect Little straight christian boy. On facebook alcorns mother made no mention of suicide, but wrote, my sweet son went home to heaven this morning. He was out for an Early Morning walk and hit by a truck. According to a survey from 2010 41 of 7,000 transgender people questioned had attempted suicide. Alcorns death now grabbing attention around the world. Actress rose mcgowan tweeting, fry flee baby girl. Meanwhile, dan savage the founder of it gets better, there is nothing wrong with you. There is nothing wrong with being gay. Reporter is calling for alcorns parents arrest, tweeting, leelahalcorns parents should be ashamed. In her note alcorn wrote she wanted her death, to quote, mean something, saying the only way i will rest in peace is if one day transgender people arent treated the way i was. Tonight, her death starting a conversation. Linsey davis, abc news, new york. Thank you, linsey. We shift gears now. 2015 promises to be a huge year in politics. With big announcements looming. Candidates setting the stage in the battle for the white house. Well tonight jeb bush is making new moves and leaving little doubt he does have his eye on the president ial prize. Abcs jeff zeleny is at the white house with more. Reporter jeb bush is getting ready to run. Hes cutting his ties to the body room resigning seats from a half dozen corporate boards like Tenet Health Care a Texas Company that profited from president obamas health care law. He is releasing thousands of emails from his time at florida governor. Its all part of getting his financial house in order before the republican primary. He said hes proud of his business record, yet hes trying to limit scrutiny. Im not ashamed of that at all. I think that practical experience is something that might be useful in washington, d. C. Reporter hes eager to send a signal to republican donors. Voters and rivals that hes serious about running. Even if hes not quite there yet. If i give myself a green light, i have to do this with enthusiasm and passion and joy. Reporter he may be the first republican to the starting gate. But he wont be alone, as senator mark coe rubio told us recently. You will not be deterred by anybody else whos running in the field even jeb bush . If you decide to run for president , you do so because you want to be president. Not you want to be president unless someone else wants to be president first. Reporter as 2015 begins, the opening chapter of the president ial race is just around the corner. On the democratic side Hillary Clinton is getting close to making a move but it will be a long time before we know if there will be A Bush Clinton match. First, he must navigate a fierce republican primary. Elizabeth . All right, jeff, thank you so much for lining it up for us. Now, to the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs in this country. Many americans who normally turn to generic alternatives are finding theyre not always much of a bargain anymore. Prices of several popular generics are soaring. Pharmacies are getting hit hard. And some are even shutting their doors. Abcs chief Business CorrespondentRebecca Jarvis investigates. Reporter brother and sister glenn stoken and beth stevens ran the only pharmacy in the small town of salem, new york for the last decade. The sign used to be up there . We had a gold sign up there. Reporter but tonight, its out of business. Cost of drugs are skyrocketing. Especially je never ickes. Reporter shutting its doors last year, they largely blame the skyrocketing cost of some of their most popular generic drugs, and say insurer reimbursements havent kept up with the price of soaring costs. It goes from 20 bucks to 1,200. Reporter generics now make up nearly eight in ten prescriptions in the United States and typically cost about 80 to 85 less than the original medicines. Still prices of some generics have not shot up so much. A bottle of 500 pills of the antibiotic doxycycline has increased from 20, to 1,869. These were some of the price increases presented at a congressional hearing in november. Congress sent these letters to 14 generic drug makers calling the ceos of three companies to the hill, but no one came to testify. This is Rebecca Jarvis with abc news. We called the companies, too. Whats really going on here . All declined interviews. Some provided statements or referred us to the generic pharmaceutical association. Sometimes there are market forces. There can be drug shortages. There can be an absence of supply active pharmaceutical ingredients. Reporter the generic drug industry called the hearing misguided and said its products have saved American Consumers billions of dollars. Back in salem, new york some residents now have to drive 30 miles to bring their medications home. And one way to push prices lower, greater competition. The fda now faces a backlog of generic drug applications and most experts agree that reducing that could really help. 30 miles, those people now have to drive. All right, rebecca, thank you so much. We turn now to a game changer. And a new years day tradition. College football has it own version of the final four. Todays new big games start off a new era in the game. And aditi roy has more on the thrilling kickoff. Reporter tonight, in pasadena kickoff in the first ever College Football playoff. Florida state squaring off against oregon in the rose bowl. And in new orleans, alabama and ohio state gearing up for a showdown of their own in the sugar bowl. Is this a gamechanging moment for College Football . I think it is. I think that fans have been demanding a playoff for a number of years. This is historymaking. Reporter this year, a winner will square off in a championship game. One team to be crowned the best in College Football. Fans from all over the country have been pouring into the rose bowl since sunrise. Fans from both teams here making a strong showing. Its big money. And i think thats what a lot of people think really drove this is the potential of the revenue can be created by this. Theres no question about it the money thats being generated by this new system is really unparalleled in college athletics. Reporter tonight, high stakes and high hopes for a game that is drawing new energy and some of the biggest audiences ever. Aditi roy, abc news pasadena, california. A big day in College Football. And tonight, topranked alabama takes on ohio state in the sugar bowl. And, theres still much more ahead on world news tonight on this new years day. Losing weight. That new years resolution at the top of so many lists tonight. A new plan to keep you from overeating. And whats going on with lebron . Why is one of the nbas best players going to be on the sidelines . 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It can be a bit overwhelming without a game plan, and no one knows that better than abcs mara schiavocampo. Reporter Stephanie Connolly is a 31yearold legal assistant with a very familiar new years resolution. How much do you want to lose . 75 pounds to 100 pounds. Reporter im here to tell her its possible. Three years ago, after having my daughter, i found myself at 230 pounds and miserable. Determined to lose weight, i accidentally stumbled upon shocking revelations that helped me drop 90 pounds. Findings i published in my new book, thinspired. Tip number one. Eliminate your trigger foods. Be brutally honest with yourself about what foods you simply cannot control yourself around. I can pass on sweets but like you know potato chips, all that, you know, popcorn. Reporter then get rid of them completely. Were going to have a funeral for the popcorn. Okay, okay. Reporter you seem sad. A little bit. Ill be okay, though. Reporter tip number two get enough sleep. I found that tired equals hungry an observation i later learned is supported by research. Youre going to sleep seven hours a day. Seven, okay. Reporter the third lesson surprised me most of all. I like that number better than the last time. Reporter thats great. And youve been doing so, so good. Yay. Starting the new year on a very positive note. Woo reporter for me the key to losing weight has been devoting 70 of my efforts to clean eating, 10 to sleep, 10 to planning and 10 to exercise. I was surprised by how small a role exercise played in my weight loss. We know its so good for your overall health. We were talking about how much sleep plays such an important role. Reporter you have to get that rest. Thank you, mara. When we come back soaring over the sydney harbor and right in the line of fire. How they captured these spectacular shots of the Fireworks Show. Its our instant index, coming up next. And bad for the barkley twins. 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