Virginia power companies are working to restore electricity to homes across the Commonwealth. Appalachian Power was reporting just under 45-thousand customers still without power in southwest Virginia as of 11:30 last night. The utility says ice and snow made it hard for crews to get to some locations to begin restoring power. Franklin County had the most outages last night with nearly 13-thousand, followed by Patrick County with nearly 79-hundred. Dominion Energy was reporting about 65-hundred outages in Virginia last night, mostly in the Richmond metro and Tri-Cities areas.
As people use different methods to stay warm, officials want people to also stay safe.Preview: Metrobuses will start the day operating under the transit agency's severe weather service plan. Only 42 bus routes will be operating until road conditions improve across the DC area. Metrorail service is expected to run normally today. Metro is asking riders to monitor its webpage and social media channels today for further updates.
Hoda Kotb is being showered with tributes as she kicks off her final week hosting NBC's "Today" show. Kotb's Virginia roots were showcased yesterday as Virginia Tech's marching band and the HokieBird mascot appeared on the show. Kotb graduated from Virginia Tech in 1986. She's worked for NBC since 1998.