[Soledad O'brien, Cnn Anchor:] CNN NEWSROOM with Don Lemon begins right now. We'll see everybody back here tomorrow morning.
[Don Lemon, Cnn Anchor:] Inch by inch and mile by mile, a massive winter storm burying records and taking aim at Washington, government agencies shut down. Snow piling up. Power outages spreading. Banned since September 11th, now the TSA changing the rules. Small knives, some sports equipment will now be allowed on airplanes. We'll talk about it. The newest member of Britain's royal family could be, well, a princess. Why the British tabloids are betting it's a little girl. Plus.
[Unidentified Male:] See the sky, who created you. Lord.
[Lemon:] "The Bible," who knew, better than a best seller, now a television hit, God is beating zombies in the TV ratings. I'm going to talk to the producer. You're live right now in the CNN NEWSROOM. Good morning, everyone. I'm Don Lemon. Carol is off today. Snowfalls and records are tumbling right now. The same powerful winter storm that buried much of the central U.S. now slogging east, up to 20 inches of snow blankets the region, and this morning nearly, get this, 100,000 homes and businesses are now without power. That same wet, heavy snow could bring down even more power lines in and around Washington. Live look now from Washington, there's the nation's capitol. Federal offices closed today and the temperatures swinging just a few degrees. Could make all the difference today. Joe Johns slogging it out for us. He is northwest of the capital in Winchester, Virginia. Joe, it is going to get bad. Just how bad is it going to get?
[Joe Johns, Cnn Crime And Justice Correspondent:] Well, pretty bad. I can tell you it's actually picked up since we started around 5:00 this morning Eastern Time. And, Don, it's not just the volume of the snow, it's also the weight and the heft of it, and the fact that it's moist. I mean, if you look at this, you can see the way the snow just is prone to stick on the limbs, of course, so much weight can bring limbs down, can bring trees down, power lines, as you've already said. It's been a long day across the country and this is going to go on for quite a while.
[Johns:] In Chicago the afternoon commute was an icy, snowy mess.
[Unidentified Female:] It doesn't make for good driving but at the same time, you know what? It's beautiful out. The snow, the quiet.
[Johns:] The 10 inches of snow at O'Hare Airport set a record for most snowfall on that date. More than 1,000 flights in and out of Chicago were canceled. Overnight, the snow started piling up in Indiana.
[Unidentified Female:] It was scary. It just felt like I was on ice and it was just really slippery.
[Johns:] And Ohio. But amid the misery, there is a bright side.
[Unidentified Female:] It's pretty sweet.
[Unidentified Male:] It's just like being on a mattress or a cloud.
[Johns:] Now that big monstrous cloud is bearing down on Virginia, has Washington in its sights and it's still far from being over.
[Unidentified Male:] If you have to get on the road use extreme caution, drive slower than you normally would.
[Johns:] So as you can see, it's very easy to make a snowman out in this kind of weather. Of course, that's great for the kids. I did that during the package insert, believe it or not, pretty impressive, right, Don?
[Lemon:] It is impressive. You know, you bring your thermometer to the heat stories. Did you bring your ruler to the snow story? How many inches, do you know?
[Johns:] Yes. I did not I did not bring the ruler but I can tell you just by looking at it we're probably somewhere between four and five inches right here in this part of the Shenandoah Valley, that's very unscientific survey if you will.
[Lemon:] Yes. And seriously a lot of our viewers are traveling, Joe, and watching us from the airport. How many flight cancellations? Do you know? We're seeing a lot of you checked on that?
[Johns:] I'm sorry, Don, would you ask me that again? You're kind of garbled.
[Lemon:] Flight cancellations in the region.
[Johns:] Yes. I do not know, I do not have a current number on the flight cancellations. I know the number was in more than 1,000 as of yesterday, and that certainly wasn't counting the East Coast.
[Lemon:] All right. You're out in that. We can check it back here. We have computers. Joe Johns, thank you, stay warm, my friend. Appreciate it. We want to turn now to your money. The Dow heads into uncharted territory this morning. It will open at an all-time high of 14253. What does that all mean? And now one Wall Street analyst is predicting the Dow will hit 20000. Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange. Alison, 20,000. That's an incredible number. I mean, what does this mean? What what's behind this?
[Alison Kosik, Cnn Business Correspondent:] OK, so that Dow 20,000 just remember that theory is coming from one lone bull. This is from a strategist from JPMorgan Chase who says yes, the Dow could hit 20,000 in about four years and here's his rationale. He says that he thinks that corporate America is going to come in with strong profits this year and that will then be reflected in earnings and he thinks that earnings power is going to catapult stocks up to that 20,000 level within four years. He says, look how the market's been acting lately, that it's been able to kind of shrug off the pressure of what's been going on just in the economy and the world economy and it still continues moving forward and he says with help from these stronger earnings he believes he thinks the Dow could hit 20000 Don.
[Lemon:] All right. So that's what the bullish folks, as they say, that's a bull's argument. What about the more reserved bears? What are they saying?
[Kosik:] Yes. And most and most everybody else is a bear and they say, you know, they are actually expecting a pullback because they say for one reason actually this time of year it's kind of slow for stocks, that you're not going to see the volume really push stocks that high. Also the end of government funding. That's going to kick in at the end of the month, not to mention the big debt ceiling debate? Yes, that's going to be happening in a couple of weeks as well. It may seem that the market is kind of numb to that now but many believe that that could lead to a pullback. Now of course the one savior could be the Fed. The Fed continues pumping money into this market, pushing basically pushing investors to the best investments in town, and that seems to be stocks at this moment. But then you also look at history as your guide and you look at what happened to the Dow after it hit these record highs. So yes, in 2000, you see that the Dow peaked then in just over two years it tumbled. That's after the dot-com bust. Then in 2007 the Dow peaked yet again. But about a year and a half later it tumbled because of the recession. And in both cases the tumble was a biggie. Was 40 to 50 percent and yes, now, now, we are at a record high again, Don. The good news is most market watchers think that if it does pull back you won't see a huge pullback like that 40, 50 percent that we've seen in the past, if only we had a crystal ball Don.
[Lemon:] Yes. Absolutely. Just not so long ago people were pulling their money out of the stock market investing in other things.
[Kosik:] Yes.
[Lemon:] It's going back up.
[Kosik:] Now they can't wait to put it back in.
[Lemon:] Yes. We'll check back. Thank you, Alison. Appreciate it.
[Kosik:] Sure.
[Lemon:] These are the stories to tell you about right now that we're following this morning. Crews are looking into why an enormous crane made a giant splash into a bay near Portland, Oregon. Look at that. The structure fell while lifting new support towers to carry high voltage power lines. The new towers also fell into the way. Luckily no one was hurt. Attorney General Eric Holder is not ruling out a case where a drone strike could target Americans on U.S. soil. He made the comments in a letter to Senator Rand Paul. Holder says in a hypothetical and unlikely to occur case the president could authorize the military to use lethal force within our borders. Holder says the U.S. has not carried out such an order and has no plans to do so. Starting April 25th, the TSA will allow listen up. Will allow to you bring small knives and certain sports equipment in your carry-on. The items have been banned from aircraft cabins since the 911 terror attacks. Passengers also will be able to carry on pool cues, lacrosse and hockey sticks, golf clubs and whiffle ball bats. Officials say the change will align the U.S. with international rules. The duchess of Cambridge may have let a royal secret slip out. It happened as the former Kate Middleton was greeting well-wishers. CNN's Zain Verjee is in London with the latest Zain.
[Zain Verjee, Cnn International Anchor:] Hey, Don. It was the mother of all hints and a major oops for the duchess. What did Kate almost say? Well, yesterday during a royal visit a well-wisher gave her a teddy bear. According to someone who was there, Kate said, "Thank you, I will take that for my," and then she broke off without finishing the word. So what do you think that mean? As you can imagine, the papers are all buzzing this morning, she's on every single front page, almost, and the main message is this. It's a girl. Sources are saying that after the slip, Kate blushed and said, "We don't know," but now we have a clue, her baby could be the future queen Don.
[Johns:] All right, Zain, thank you very much. Martha Stewart means big business to Macy's. The domestic diva's brand brings in millions of dollars. That's why Stewart finds herself in court right now defending a new deal with the department store rival.