york and new jersey. this is a super bowl of a lot of firsts. first time it is being hosted by two teams, the first time it is being hosted by two states and one big city. the first time the game is being played in a northern city and a building without a roof. >> it has been a decade-long effort for tisch. it began after 9/11 when he began pitching the idea to nfl politicians as a way to jumpstart an economy. it was not until the metlife stadium was built in 2010 that idea caught on. >> the nfl owners liked to bring -- they wanted the world to see this great facility. >> many will be watching super bowl xlviii. perhaps no venue is better prepared for an event like this. 20 times a season, metlife undergoes a transformation. they change it from one team to another. that includes the removable endzone. the turf from one team is rolled up and under the stands and another team's turf is rolled out. that is about all nfl is saying. >> what are some of of the cosmetic changes? >> i know we are standing on the

york and new jersey. this is a super bowl of a lot of firsts. first time it is being hosted by two teams, the first time it is being hosted by two states and one big city. the first time the game is being played in a northern city and a building without a roof. >> it has been a decade-long effort for tisch. it began after 9/11 when he began pitching the idea to nfl politicians as a way to jumpstart an economy. it was not until the metlife stadium was built in 2010 that idea caught on. >> the nfl owners liked to bring -- they wanted the world to see this great facility. >> many will be watching super bowl xlviii. perhaps no venue is better prepared for an event like this. 20 times a season, metlife undergoes a transformation. they change it from one team to another. that includes the removable endzone. the turf from one team is rolled up and under the stands and another team's turf is rolled out. that is about all nfl is saying. >> what are some of of the cosmetic changes? >> i know we are standing on the

open in new york and died before the new york subway opened. so he did not live to see it, but his story is certainly looked on. >> also the engineer -- >> which celebrated its 100th any herstory. the cape cod we know today. [inaudible] >> the question is can you talk a little bit about what the sinus? trouble today the green line extension and all the sign-up spirit who financed those projects? >> it's a good question. the new york story and i have a whole chapter, especially when the bids were opened in boston. it has been out to private contractors and they'll bid on it in the sky was the one who was awarded the contract. you would think the lowest bidder would get the job. the lowest bidder on the boston job was a brooklyn contractor. mysteriously the book written contractor didn't get the job. michael meehan went to the transit commission insert a floppy and bad he was the second lowest bitter. he went to the transit commission and city do not want to give this junior contractor. it's too big a job, too important. it needs to go to a local

craig: are we still talking about the new york time or new york? >> i'm going to come back to the "new york times" and discover my desk has been cleared off. craig: no, it is a great american institution. what are you talking about? if you can't poke fun of the "new york times," then you're not participating. that's what i say. we're out of time, dave. it is a very interesting book, though. you're a very interesting man. i'm glad you're here. david itzkoff, everybody! we'll be right back. i am totally blind. i began losing my sight to an eye disease when i was 10. but i learned to live with my blindness a long time ago. so i don't let my blindness get in the way of doing the things i love. but sometimes it feels like my body doesn't know the difference between day and night. i struggle to sleep at night, and stay awake during the day. i found out this is called non-24, a circadian rhythm disorder that affects up to 70 percent of people who are totally blind. learn about the link between non-24 and blindness. call 844-824-2424. that's 844-824-2424 o

i want you to talk about this "new york times" story. the plane is detected going up from its normal cruising level of about 35,000 feet to 45,000, then going down to 23,000, then back up to 30,000, then flying for several hours. what do you make of that? >> well, it's interesting from an aerodynamic standpoint. the surface ceiling of the airplane is 41,500. if the plane is up at 45,000 feet, the margin between overspeeding the aircraft getting into what's sometimes called mach tuck going way too fast for the airplane and stalling the airplane becomes very, very small. you're up there in a very dangerous situation. the airplane is likely to come down on its own accord at that point. it can't sustain flight there. we talked about the stability of the airplane. most airliners are very stable. what could describe that flight path is something that pilots refer to as a fugoid where the nose is seeking a trimmed position. it's sort of like making a paper airplane as a child when it goes up in the air and goes down and goes back up until it fi

the real estate industry in new york, factory openers in new york opposed regulations or standards for basic things like fire escapes, sprinklers, open doors, and fought them for several years after the fire. >> ultimately you in your article lay out well how pressure was maintained and laws came into place. what are some things that we take for granted as workplace safety laws that evolved from the movement to change things for workers? >> starting from building safety, we have mandatory fire safety codes, sprinklers. things like that. in the garment industry we have outlawed and saved lives of workers that suffer brown death or lung disease. coal mines - too many die on the job - are far safer than they were basis a consistently steady stream of new and stronger laws. there's lots of things we take for granted in work place safety and consumer protections. >> a few years ago we had another coal mine incident where it was found that they had broken regulation, ignored regulations and there tends to be resistance when companies are making lots of money to say "let's create the safest e

. >> new york has everything. there is a tech community but there is a banking community. >> i think you are helping me out. you get startups focused on fashion which is harder to do in san francisco. people are not as passionate about it here. >> it is a cultural difference at the heart of this. when people come to california to reinvent themselves, they start with a blank slate. in new york, there is history. in new york, you've got the f train and here you've got the donner party. this is where the action happens. it's the beginning of a better life. ande also invented cronuts we have the new york giants. we have the san francisco giants. we have twice as many teams. the oakland a's winning the division two years in a row, come on. >> we have way better buried as. -- doritos. - burritos. >> we have better pizza. >> you have better new york style pizza. >> i don't know if new york is better for business but i feel san francisco is better for technology. >> san franciso is at her for tech. business, maybe not but

for example, new york-backed eisenhower, nixon, reagan twice. the last three governors have been democrats, but before that, republican george pataki served for 11 years. and while the current mayor of new york city, bill de blasio is a democrat, he actually had to go back 20 years before the last time there was another one, giuliani and bloomberg kept democrats out of city hall for 20 years. over the years, it's been a constant power struggle between the governor's mansion and city hall. who was in charge? giuliani, pataki? cuomo, bloomberg? and now a new rivalry. in the wake of 9/11, giuliani became the face of new york, and bloomberg continued the trend by wading into national issues like the recent gun debate. and new york likely isn't finished as a springboard for politics with national aspirations, though it's been a while since one got to the white house, particularly if a former new york city out of chappaqua has anything to say to that. nick is the political reporter for "the new york times" based in manhattan, and suzanne craig is "the

and all that stuff. >> he moved to new york city and moved to new york city as a junior. it was a culture shock. >> whether and the food. 80 degrees. we have local food here, and my jacket freezing. your friends teas you about the movie coming to america. they do. >> they say coming to find my bride. >> the 6 foot 9 sof more is a leading shock blocker. to me defense is winning championship. i love playing defense. whatever we do to stop the other team we do. >> it's a big thing for me. >> his iq or feel, court sense is exceptional. as he gets stronger he has a fright future not just at st. johns, but the next level. >> have your parents seen you play? >> a couple of times, on tv though. >> what do they say when they see you on the basketball court. >> they are proud of me. >> mum almost stopped crying. they stopped crying. they are proud of me. >> he is loving life and hoping to play at the next level like his idol and fellow countryman. >> i can't imagine what it feels like. he is from where i'm from, he came here and made a name. that's what i wanted to do. i'm looking

cuomo ask himself to leave new york city or new york since he said new york had no room for conservatives, he just became one through an act of common sense. the greater issue is why did the greatest city in the world under two decades of incredible strength and leadership, hand power over to an abject moron? it's like building a beautiful jumbo jet and choosing a pogo stick as a pilot. de blasio is a left wing lurch. he's harming more children than lawn darts and freddy krueger combined, and the reason is they're not his kids. this reflects every liberal politician who kills school choice while sending their children to private schools. >> he's only been in office for a couple months. >> he's evil. this progressivism is evil because it's about money and power. you know what the school chanceler said. she came out and said these kids are on their own. >> you know where the evil cell cpac. >> detour. >> cuomo took de blasio. he realized de blasio was on the ropes in a corner, and what andrew cuomo did was smart. this is going to be my first venture towards the 2016 presidential run. i'm go

and use them in new york city . architectly, you may want -- be architecturally you may want to -- they pay not fly in new york city. >> things that we as americans get used to, the idea that report began with the bathtub being the heaviest thing in that lady's home. in america we have big expectations, big appliances and a lot of things that are quite different. >> definitely so but those can be sof solved through the architecture and engineering. importing these to new york city and also in general to the issues. first of all, one issue is that until haas year, float -- until last year, floating homes fell under maritime law. >> so they are technically considered in the sea as it were? >> technically they were considered boats. but the supreme court last year said they're not boats. they should be considered houses. and therefore they should not fall under maritime law but they should fall under state law. but the state has not regulated these homes or these floating homes as homes. and therefore, there is no regu

i'm del walters in new york. "techknow," featuring kid genius, is next. >> i'm phil torres, welcome to a special episode of "techknow." we wanted to share a story with you of innovation that brings out the spirit of welcome. >> hello, i'm cara santa maria, and i'm here to talk about innovations that change lines. we explore the intersection between hardware and humanity and we do it in a unique way.

she started in her you -- in new york. she came to new york in her 20's and lived with donald judd. there was ad that little bit of a romantic liaison between them. in --anted her flat both flag both in minimalism and in pop art. she did happenings, performances, and was influential in new york as a pop artist. she kept going in both directions. she makes very popular work. is anarticular piece infinity room that she presented in new york. the most popular show ever. people lined up around the block to see this work. quek status from 2013? for -- >> that is from 20 -- 2013. next is not old judd -- next is donald judd. anabel helped us put this building together. n and aed with a flavi judd show. they are the father figures of minimalism. flavin.is the 1974 >> that is a show we did a couple of years ago. it is a work of neon light that dissects a room. room. a >> doug wheeler, this is a current expedition -- exhibition. >> this is a brand-new work. he was considered a minimalist, but he is really one of the people that comes out of los angeles and started the light and space movement

i'm del walters in new york. "inside story" is next, and throughout the day we'll update you on that explosion and fire in east harlem. one dead, dozens injured. >> the man who used to run ukraine tells the country's army don't follow the orders from the new guys in charge. developments in ukraine continue thick and fast. it's the inside story . >> hello, i'm ray suarez. ousted ukrainian president viktor yanukovych continues to speak to the country from next door russia.

>>> the new york media swooning over lina dunham .her girls. last week she hosted "saturday night live." >> there is an old saying if you're nervous about giving a speech, imagine the audience naked or imagine they haven't seen you naked. >> plus, bob costas is still battling controversy for battling politics and sports. is he considering hanging it up? i'm howard kurtz and this is "media buzz." it's on monk, noon and night. the malaysian plane that vanished without a trace has become one giant media mystery, drawing constant coverage, endless theories, troubling mistakes and no shortage of speculation. >> that' it's so astonishing to think that this plane took off in some 40, 45 minutes after taking off that it went utterly silent. >> in you reports tonight that the plane's communication system was shut down manually and not because of catastrophic failure. that it was shut down manually. >> nothing seen like this ever before. that search area, it looks horrendous. >> could the plane still be out there, intact and simply diverted to at undiscl

have been new york and chicago. san francisco is growing. we're seeing great in places in the south like texas. cheryl: jamison black barrel, that debuted in new york couple years ago, right? >> 2011. only rolled out a couple of cities and based on stock, how we grow. it's a great product. different than the normal jameson. which is whiskey in barrels. we have products like redbreast and green spot. cheryl: that is single pot whiskey. i have no clue what that is. >> that is single irish style. cult classic only released in u.s. for first time. cheryl: now you're ceo of usa i don't know, they're up 5%. you're seeing the overall company sales are stronger. >> good thing is, that the general spirit markets are growing around 3%. 2.5 to 3% and we finished the first half plus five which is great. managing peoplization, so our price mix was good which is in line with what pernod ricard policy is. cheryl: what is going on with absolute vodka. are they competitive. are grandmas making vodka. what is going on? >> vodka is al

aim del walters in new york, and "inside story" is next. and a reminder, we continue to watch developments coming out of london. when secretary of state, john kerry, wraps up his meeting with sergei lavrov, we'll bring you that comment live. it is the inside story. ♪ . >> hello, i'm ray swarez, the man who used to be jorge mario is cardinal arch bishop has shown he is a master of flipping the script. it started from the moment the votes that made him the head of the worldwide catholic church were counted an enormous crowd gathering in st. peters square, the

so inside the city of new york there is another city and its called new york city public housing in a has about 380,000 people living in that city within a ready in apartment houses and etc. so what we do is train the resident to do jobs of the public housing project. cable-tv, maintenance, things of that sort. public housing authority under the contract to hire these people back. so we trained a number of people, mostly women, to do these electrician jobs and etc. because we do contract with the unions to take on the trainees and make them part of the union and placed them in jobs. it's tough and it's grinding, there are no silver bullets to this business grade but it is the right thing to do. and it's all positive. we do get returns on these. positive returns could we make progress. it's not spectacular progress. >> i will actually add to this and some of the details of the eastlake story, which is if they did bring in job training programs but it doesn't actually solve the issue. and so they have a lot of poor neighborhoods nowhere near where the jobs are. so we have a lot of singl

the apartment foreclosure crisis has hit new york particularly hard. paulino lives in hunts point, a neighborhood in the south bronx that has the highest concentration of foreclosures in the entire city. hunts point is already well known for its poor urban environment. it's straddled by 3 highways and experiences heavy truck traffic from the nearby market. residents face some of the highest asthma rates in the country, and experts say foreclosure is making them worse. >> where is my medicine? >> i think it's in one of the small ones. >> in the two small ones? >> i think, i don't know, one of them. >> my asthma is crazy. i'm on so many medications. i always keep it plugged in, so i don't have to go through the trouble of plugging it in, because i use the machine even 3 times in one day, myself. i have been changed of medication to symbicort because my medication hasn't helped me. come. then i just put the medicine... turn it on, and put it on him, or put it on me, or my oldest child, which is 16, he's going to be 17. >> hi, my name is evan. >> [laughing

harry smith, nbc news, new york. >> that's our broadcast for a tuesday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. we, of course, hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. >>> we are tracking the rain, the first storm to hit the bay area in several weeks. a live look at the radar. a few bands of rain still active. the rain great for the drought but many people watching the hillsides. good evening and thanks for joining us. i'm raj mathai. >> i'm jessica aguirre. the top story is outside your front door, the rainmaking a return to the bay area. live team coverage for you tonight. chief meteorologist jeff ranieri is tracking the storm but first, to cheryl hurd live in pacifica and some people are nervous there and for good reason, they have history. >> reporter: yes, it does. i spent many days here in pacificia four years ago and this is why, there were major mudslides but as you can see, engineers have done a lot of work suring up the area. there are some sizable rain in some areas today, which made some people think about mu

that's what's happened in new york. >> that's right. and i think de blasio is going to be defeated on this. one of the things, too, in terms educating kids if they don't go to a school that has the right environment and we talked to some of these kids, contrast what they had before and in some of these charter schools, day and night. it changed them. so you got to have the right environment and kids change, it brings in parents in a way they had not been before. so has a real good ripple effect. >> last word from the boss. thanks, gang. remember this? >> for the 375,000 people who visited the site by noon today i think that they didn't need an advertising campaign to visit. >> so obamacare sells itself, right? then maybe somebody should return the $700 million that they are going to spend to sell it. i've always kept my eye on her... but with so much health care noise, i didn't always watch out for myself. with unitedhealthcare, i get personalized information and rewards for addressing my health risks. but she's still gonna give me a he

but the real estate industry in new york, the factory owners in new york at that time consistently opposed any regulations or standards for basic things as you mentioned, fire escapes, sprinklers, opened doors, and they fought them several years after the fire. >> but ultimately you and your article really layout very well how pressure was then maintained and laws came into place. what are some of the things that we take for granted now as workplace safety laws that evolved from the movement to change things for workers? >> well, just starting from building safety first we now have mandatory fire safety codes, sprinklers, things like that. in the cotton--garment industry we have outlawed and saved thousands of workers' lives who sufferesuffered from cotton dusn dust seize. in our coal mines while many people still die on the job are as far safer than years ago because of a consistent steady stream of newer and stronger laws. there are many things that we take for granted in workplace safety and consumer protections as well. >> yet just a few years ago we had another coal mine incident wher

the new york financing was one of the reasons why the new york job happened later than boston. for a lot of reasons new york should've beaten boston. they were ahead of the curve. they were ready to move that new york had a lot of problems arranging the financing. there was a big pivotal moment that have been in 1891 when new yorkers have essentially said we are ready for a subway let's do it and a big thing happened. the city hall where they invited these people to bid for the project and open process and nobody did. there was like this enormous huge high-profile moment where they thought they would get lots of people bidding and here it is and nobody did. steinway, big moment for steinway and it was a big letdown for steinway. it's one of the moments when parsons thought for years he was going to be the guy to build the subway in new york and he said that said, i'm done, and going to leave and eventually he went to china to build a big project in china. he is in china working on a huge project their annie gets a cable grand that says come back, we are ready to build now. so h

what about a system which we have in new york, if you're in east new york, central brooklyn in a zone school, that's your only choice is to go to the school that the districts assign you. if it's failing, it's a take it or leave it proposition. if you're poor, it's a -- >> a second ago you were talking about how it's always going to be public schools. if it's choice, let's have school choice. privatize the whole thing. the argument you just made is exactly the argument people make for privatizing education. >> we're not privatizing it. >> if you believe it, if you think it's ridiculous to consign someone to the absolute unfairness of having to go to their local school, why don't you also just take the next step and say let's get privatized schools? >> i'm not a believer in privatized school but a public school system and charters as a part of that system. i think we need different providers within that public system. >> when i talk to parents who are from charter schools, it's amazing what they say. charter school parents anywhere you go say the same things. they say the reason i like

i got home from new york. i answered it, this is catherine and? i said yes. i don't know if you understand how weird it is to talk to people from my text book. we study these people, i said there name hundreds of times through hundreds of students and for him to call me up is just weird and awesome. it is so much richer learning experience for the student and for me if we hear it straight from the people who were involved and that has been great. it came from asking a question. i am asking questions of time because it works. you have a new business you want to start, you want to invent a great new revolutionary product or service, you want to be more innovative in your career come ask questions, ask people to help you. it works for me and it should work for you as well. i am happy to answer any questions you may have. [applause] >> questions? >> i haven't read your book yet. but the birthday party. there was a reason -- i am sorry. customers coming to the party, it was an entertainment event, like bringing clients to the superbowl or something. >> it has been

we have come a long way in new york city since then. the racial and social climate have dramatically i am proved. the parade is still a highly politically significant event. st. patrick's day is one of the rare holidays there is a seamless mix of religious, secular and cultural celebration. it honors a scottish saint that was kidnapped by irish slave traitors as a teenager and escaped to a priest and missionary spreading the gospel to druids and pagans in the fourth century using the shamrock. despite the religious origin, the parade was long been a secular and political spectacle. dating back to the 1762 when regimen was irish troops marked the 17th of march by marching through new york city with spikes ask drones. or the 1870s when irish americans organized celebrations in union square with busts of 19th century irish political leader daniel o'connell on their parade wagon. it is also distinctly american. the concept of a st. patrick's day parade did not even make to it ireland until the 1930s. ever since the debacle to march or not t

. >> you see, new york city mayor bill de blasio and new york governor andrew cuomo go way back. the two democrats have known and worked with each other for decades. they met in 1992 on the gore/clinton campaign. de blasio then worked for cuomo at the department of housing and urban development after cuomo became secretary of hud in 1986 then he went on to run hillary clinton's senate campaign in 2010 which cuomo served as informal adviser to, and in 2010, when cuomo needed someone to pass on a message in a delegate endorsement, he found a messenger in his old friend bill de blasio so when de blasio rocketed to stardom last year using the unapologetically rhetoric that andrew cuomo made his career avoiding, you couldn't help but wonder, how is this going to work out? in the beginning there were smiles, pronouncements of friendship. they were going to try to make it work. >> we use the word "friend" in politics often, and sometimes casually, but the new mayor of new york truly is a friend. in the deepest sense of the word. we go way back. we've work together on a professional leve

in new york city everybody lived in the fourth as part of downtown new york city. crammed into the finnell of the island of manhattan, and was only when college began to speed up an electric talley came along and other means of moving people around started to come along that in paper able to move out and without of the city. at first it was a mile, two miles, then for miles and eventually six miles. the city began to expand and grow and that was critical to get people further out from the downtown area where they were living. that was a big moment in the second half of the 19th century that happen with expansion of cities. the book sort of developed from the pivotal moment when city started to expand. what happened was a couple pivotal moments happened. the blizzard of 1880. in 1888 a storm unlike nothing we have ever seen since then crippled the entire northeast. at least 400 people but some people estimate 11,000 people were killed in this blizzard. it just devastated the entire northeast. new york, boston and everything in between ground to a standstill. when th

and we'll show you the high-tech eco-friendly plan for new york's low lines. and in pixar movies, a canceled tv series hits the big screen with some technical difficulties. we are kicking it off with what everyone is talking about, grimy crimea voting to separate from ukraine. according to elections officials, they voted yesterday, paving the way for annexation by russia. despite the ukraine leaders calling the vote a legal officials said it fully met international norms. on the other side, ukraine's acting foreign minister spoke exclusively about the motives behind this referendum. >> it is a part of a bigger scenario to make chaos, not only in crimea, but in the eastern ukraine. and it might be part of a bigger plan to connect russia through the ukraine mainland. >> meanwhile, the e.u. announcing sanctions against russia this morning. european finance meters were in brussels at a meeting. >> what they have not done, and this is interesting, if they have not announced any economic sanctions. there is no unanimity or appetite for economic sanctions against rus

cuomo ask himself to leave new york city or new york since he said new york had no room for conservatives, he just became one through an act of common sense. the greater issue is why did the greatest city in the world under two decades of incredible strength and leadership, hand power over to an abject moron? it's like building a beautiful jumbo jet and choosing a pogo stick as a pilot. de blasio is a left wing lurch. he's harming more children than lawn darts and freddy krueger combined, and the reason is they're not his kids. this reflects every liberal politician who kills school choice while sending their children to private schools. >> he's only been in office for a couple months. >> he's evil. this progressivism is evil because it's about money and power. you know what the school chanceler said. she came out and said these kids are on their own. >> you know where the evil cell cpac. >> detour. >> cuomo took de blasio. he realized de blasio was on the ropes in a corner, and what andrew cuomo did was smart. this is going to be my first venture towards the 2016 presidential run. i'm go

at that new york premiere of new documentary she was welcomed with open arms. >> elaine stritch! >> but it wasn't until that film ended she got the standing ovation that she truly felt she delivered. >> and seeing the audience and watching you watching me. this is just too much. i'm telling you. for this life long performer, it's still all about the audience. >> what is it like when everybody starts applauding? >> it's -- a necessity. got to happen. or else it's not worth it. >> stritch decided to leave new york last year for good. and return home to detroit where she's closer to family who all take very good care of her. >> think this is one of your last times back in new york? >> oh, no. i'm not that old.

anne thompson, nbc news, new york. >>> that's our broadcast for this thursday night. thank you for being with us. i'm lester holt. we hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night. >>> nbc bay area news starts now. >>> right now at 6:00, the search for the missing malaysian airlines jet stretches 30 thousand square miles, almost the size of the state of eindie indiana. >> the malaysian government ordered some searchers to redirect toward the indian ocean. the pentagon confirming that u.s. planes and an american destroyer are headed there. also a high tech company from silicon valley is offering help. >> it's a startup and fairly new but quickly growing business of satellite imaging using technology to take high-resolution individual crow and pictures of what's on the ground from space. today we learned that one of those imaging companies is searching for that missing plane. as the search continues for malaysia air flight 370. >> we are continuing to investigate any possibilities. >> reporter: silicon valley technology is helping out thanks to a mountain

tonight that storm is moving east with white-out conditions in upstate new york and new england. caroline tucker is with our cbs affiliate in rochester new york, wroc-tv. caroline? >> reporter: scott, the heavy snow started midmorning here in rochester and is not expected to let up until late tonight. at the peak of the storm, snow will fall up to two inches an hour and wind gusts have reached 45 miles per hour already. creating visibility of less than a quarter mile. a blizzard warning was posted in upstate new york where we could get as much as 20 inches. we've already had seven feet of snow this winter here in rochester. just yesterday it was starting to feel like spring, it was in the 50s. here it's now in the 20s. st. louis it was 83 degrees, this morning it was 36. indianapolis also saw a 30 degree drop. and scott, it's expected to feel even colder here tomorrow, feeling like 10 below zero. >> pelley: spring coming on march 20th. caroline tucker in rochester new york for us tonight, thank you, caroline. today president obama sent a washing to russia as he pet in the oval of

in new york city. emergency crews on the scene of a horrific explosion in new york. it's caused two buildings to collapse, and severely damage several surrounding buildings. at least two people are confirmed dead. 18 others are injured. the blast happened nearly four hours ago in east harlem. set off a five-alarm fire that is still burning. a con edison official tells cnn there was a report of a possible gas leak 15 minutes before the explosion. investigators smelled gas in the air. law enforcement officials stressed to cnn, they are seeing no connection, not seeing any connection to terrorism. mayor bill de blasio held a news conference a few moments ago. here's what he had to say about the operation under way right now. >> we know we've lost two people already. we know at this moment preliminarily that 18 are injured. different levels of injury. we also know that there will be a search through the rubble of the building as soon as the fire is put out, looking for those who are missing. there are a nu