bill: in a dramatic reversal, justice department decided not to pursue another trial for u.s. senator bob men e menendez. this sets senator up for a smoother pack to his reelection, or does it. >> i won't forget you. bill: a train full of republican lawmakers gets into a ter accident, we check in with one of the lawmakers on the train. >> there was a crash. bill: donald trump firsts his first state of the union, a big story is media tripping over themselves in an effort to tabloid up the story, and make

the focus melania trump and how she got on the big speech, all this coming up, i am bill spadea, this is "chasing news." bill: we have a chasing alert, u.s. senator menendez got good news, justice department dropping all of the changes in the case they had been pursuing on corruption and bribery, bob menendez has a path to his reelection, we bring in john. big news today. >> yeah, an elect year prereprieve, federal prosecutor dropped all of the changes, remaining charges, in what some observers call, a shocking turn around, at a hearing in newark, justice deputy surprised court reversing its own decision to retry menendez, and his co

co-defendant. the trial ended with a deadlock jury in november, last week a federal judge acquitted me menez on 7 of 18 counts. because of that, the doj disietdedecidedto drop the rema. >> the trial went on too long, you start police interest of the jurors, and the issues become cloudy. >> in a statement, a spokeswoman said, given impact of the order on charges and evidence admissible in a retrial, united states determined it will not retry him of the remaining charges, he thanked his supporters and added from the beginning, i never waiverred from my innocence and belief that justice would prevail. i am grateful department of justice has taken its time to reevaluate its case and come to

the appropriate conclusion. >> housekeeping in senate. was there any word on how bob men emenendez will follow-up ons political retribution list? >> to shows who are digging my political grave, so they can jump into my seat, i know who you are. i won't forget you. bill: what happened? we heard today from senator is, paper statement that was released, we have nottine hi sem in front of a camera, i assume he will remain quiet for a while, let it clear out to focus on running for reelect. bill: thank you, john. janet hoffman, a political strategist, and guest host on chasing news, jannette welcome back, how are you? >> great. how are you? bill: great, and do you know who else? bob. >> he is. bill: i think he is sailing to a

reelection. >> he has to be feeling pretty good today, he may be 99 -- 99 innocent in official court but not necessarily court of public opinion. his approval ratings, has dropped 20 points since last fall, to say he will coast to reelect not so fast. >> you know money does not always buy you want to you. we will see. really quick, do you think that this proves it was politically motivated from obama white house attacking him. >> i think a huge embarrassment for the justice department and obama administration. bill: thank you, jannette. appreciate it. we have a chasing alert. amtrak train full of republican lawmakers headed from the capital to a private retreat gets into an accident with a

trash truck, one man lost his life, we comeblg i check in witr of congress who was to the train, lauren with the story. reporter: a chaotic scene after an amtrak train, fra transportig republican lawmakers to a retreat in west virginia crashed. they felt a jolt. >> you were not braced for it it was severe, throwing a head of people's head -- a lot of people's heads into the seats. reporter: carrying dozens of republican congress members, staff and family, when it slammed into a dump truck. the train was going about 70 miles for hour when the collision occurred. capital and g.o.p. doctors and nurses attended to the injuryd, including those in the severed dump truck, they performed

cpr for several moments before highe died of his injuries, the other was taken to the help. >> not surprising that there was a fatality. >> house speaker paul ryan was a passenger, he was the not hurt, and updated president on the accident, most of those injuries suffered head and neck injuries. about a half dozen people were taken to air hospitals including minnesota representative, jason louis, who is under going standard concussion protocol. the train has returned to charlottesville, and the lawmakers are taken to the retreat on buses, congressional leaders are going on with the retreat, with an adjusted schedule, which includes a moment of prayer for those up volved in crash. lauren, reporting for "chasing news." bill: thank you, a member of congress on that train. tom mccarther welcome back to

"chasing news" i am glad to hear you are okay. >> yes, very unfortunate, a few people taken off of the train in stretchers, i believe that people in the truck one of the people of the killed. a lot of debris. pretty traumatic crash. bill: what happened from your perspective? you are sitting, catching a couple of z's, what is happening? >> the train itself was an amtrak, so it was the just house and senate republicans on our way to off site retreat. we were just you know moving along. suddenly there was a grinding sort of a crash, everything just went flying. took a little bit i think for

people to realize, we looked out the left side of the train. we hit a truck. there was you know truck was mangled and debris everywhere. bill: did you fall forward were you sitting or standing? >> i sitting, i was sitting, i went forward. many of us have a bit of whiplash, some people banged the seat in front of them. bill: did you know about the driver right then or did you hear afterward. >> we are moving back to charlottesville. but no, it took a while, the driver himself i believe survived. i heard people saying he was waving but think a passenger in truck could not get out in time. >> what is mood now a among your colleagues. i imagine you are still heading to greenbriar for retreat. >> it is sobering, we're

continuing on. we have to do. you know your intent to continue what we can. bill: wire glad you and your colleagues are okay our prayers to the driver who lost his life and your family. >> thank you. bill: check in with meteorologist dan zarrow, with your weather forecast. >> two big weather stories in next 24 hours, first is a welcome but brief warm up, highs in 40s on thursday, i like when we were under an arrow that says miler, to the west our next storm system comes in weather story two, that will start to impact us thursday afternoon to thursday night to friday morning. this one looks messy, will start as rain, then transition to wintry mix then a brief hit of snow friday morning. snow accumulation will be limited, we could see a slushy inch or two from northwestern

new jersey to catskills maybe part of hudson valley, for us, icy, dicey, sloppy, slippery, overnight, quiet. chilly, increasing clouds, upper 20s to 30, thursday, clouds mild, mid to upper 40s, first rain drops and snow makes thursday afternoon to evening, friday morning watch commute, it could get slippery, show showers taper off -- snow showers taper off, then from 30s to the 20s. a cold start to weekend, then watch our next storm system. that will be sunday to monday as you watch big game on tv. we could have printery weather. -- wintry weather, too early to talk details, we're on edge between snow and rain. monday morning could also be messy, meteorologist, dan zarrow. >> we have a lot more chasing news coming up for you. we talk about state of the

union. this was president president trump's time to shine, a lot of people think it was a great speech, we'll have all of the details.

bill: welcome back to "chasing

news," i am bill spadea, we shoy spending time in atlantic city, talking about windr, but, what would it doe our beaches, and what would this cost you? but first, psist state of the un address, there were reactions. a lot you might expect, people who are already anti-trump say, terrible, and people who support president pointing to all s stories of first year, like jobs and fact cuts, many folks who want to - to -- who wanted o attack president, could not find anything with policy, went to first laid, makinlady. if you want controversy, you can find it on just anyin anything t

president and first family do. i am joined by former assemblyman in new jersey state assembly. and a democrat, with his reacted on this, john welcome back to choos"chasing news." >> thank you. bill: before you start, i am sure you are negative on the speech, knowing you. what didn't you like? jobe creatiojob creation or isi. >> i liked, president was able for one hour and trend minutes to stay on script. they must have been doing high 5s. he did not speak about things. but the speech was laden with miss scary things he wants judges that support what he wants. judge who will be fair arbiters.

bill: can is that what every president before has done. doubt. and certainly every side in history of this sunountry has appoint. judgesay they want. president is more scarey to what me said, he was talking about judges who agree with him. not who follow his philosophy that is a big difference. bill: was it -- president obama who said that elections have consequences. >> they do, but -- look, problem is we see our institutions are being decimated. >> okay thank you, john. bringing in our panel. serena and bob. who is an attorney and former prosecutor, bob. you are on other side littl politically, start with whole melania trump thing. it is an unfair attempt of media

to create the circumstance of marital discord. >> i will shock,. i don't care. >> okay. >> whatever okay as a lawyer, one step further, who cares, enough of this, how did she look, how didn't she look in is not important to government. we need to stop it. >> you could have said, i agree. >> bill, i agree. >> i agree they have nothing else to talk about, he did a great job, in my opinion he did a home run. bill: back to what wisniewski said, not easy to deliver on it you have, isis and tax cuts and jobs that sounds good. but a lot of people say, it came from obama momentum. >> same as what now in new

jersey, a 1.3 billion promise of tax increase, and programming fully funding education here that sounds ease to say, but when the rubber meets road. i have faith he will do it, he has built a beautiful empire for himself. bill: bob, good speech or not 1234. >> a good speech, he straye, stn script. nevertheless, he delivered a good speech. bill: okay thank you. >> governor murphy, heading to atlantic city, pitching his latest on alternative energy. he wants new jersey to step it up with regard to wind power, that lives a lot of questions, who will pay for it? is it safe? what did it do to wildlife? birds and marine life in particular, ashley with the story. reporter: new jersey governor

murphy signed an order wednesday at jersey atlantic wind farm, to expand wind energy by fully implementing offshore wind economy development act. said that new jersey will be a global leader in wind power. >> must be to generate 3500 megawatts of offshore wind energy. enough to power nearly 1.5 million homes by year 2030. that is not far from now. reporter: murphy and senate president sweeney pointed finger fingers at christie administration for not making clean engineer a byor -- pry priority. first lady tammy murphy has been vocal on environmental issues. >> turbine, just outside that stand and welcome people to atlantic city have become on their own a tourist destination. people don't visit a place

unless it sparks something in them. because they want to learn more or because that i wan they wantm about larger possibilities. reporter: proposal to place wind turbines at various places off coast has sparked controversy, even among democrats. shore homeowners are worried about how it could affect seenery, and he is okay with turbineds as long as they are 50 miles out to shore. i brought concerns up. >> what do you to opposition. >> i have seen rendering. 15 miles off the coast, if you can see 15 miles away, i want to know what you have been eating. reporter: study by university released tuesday shows murphy has a 35% approval rating, which compared to governor chris christie, was at 48%. atlantic stay, ashley johnson,

reporting for "chasing news." bill: thank you,ly bring in our panel. to break this down. serena, member of new jersey assembly, and former prosecutor, trial attorney bob bee an key. ecent thevent the dutch are movm wind power, i don't understand another government mandate to cost us money, and governor seems to be dismissing concern when it comes to environment, not only cost of repairs and burden of taxpayers but marine life, study after study saying it disrupts marine life, and bird migration. >> i know the idea, we want to move toward clean energy and really good things for environment. but you know we have to look at bigger picture. what you mentioned. bigger is taxpayer who will be on hook for these? us, we pay enough to live here. bill: bob, clean energy, most of

our energy is al already clean. >> governor murphy is committed, there is nothing wrong with exploring, it could create thousands of jobs, the problem in the studies you cite they be can corrected -- bill: don't take my word, take it from the dutch. they invented wind power, they say, we don't want it. >> we're better, governor murphy said, he can walk and chew gums at statement time, if there are problem, he will address them, he has a significant transition that is out there. bill: in not only from law up force am side but taxpayer -- law enforcement side but taxpayer doesn't governor murphy to be off track with his economist memos and orders? >> that is -- name-calling, i will put aside, i know you are back from being sick. bill: is that it? but, listen, i think that high is in right, he has not stopped working, has not taken a day

off. he is out there he is pursuing actgenda he told the voters he would do. bill: we heard cliche better to work smart than hard, we'll see. >> we'll see what happens. bill: thank you. >> we'll leave it there. stay right there, we have more show coming up. cover ou headline. including disgraced gymnastic doctor nassar, he will face more item

bill: welcome back to "chasing news," i am bill spadea looking at headlines, disgrace gymnastic doctor, nassar facing up to 175 years in prison. he will face more victim statement in court. >> nassar was back in court on wednesday, a week after he was sentenced to the 175 years on firsfirst-degree criminal sexual charges, now charges related to

gymnastic club twisters. >> he preyed on us, lives us broken. reporter: about 60 women and girls will confront nassar. department of justice and security and exchange commission investigating claims that apple throttled down older iphones. >> and april the giraffe, is now tosses her hat into prediction game, super bowl. in a video purpose seen roaming her barn in front of sign with two team logos, after thought, april those patriots over philadelphia. those are some headlines we're chases for you. >> all right maybe you heard in the news, brooklyn artist that tried to bring her therapy

peacock to a flight, i know that people and animals have a special connection, maybe you had a long day at work, you get home to your dog or hat, i know that rehabilitation, can be helpful, but there has to be a line. shame on this woman for trying to get a peacock on a commercial flight. she not only hil held everyone , but who is she to be entitled to something so far off the scale? what if i want to bring my therapy elephant or man-eating tiger, there is a limit. and a peacock coming on a flight, she knew it was not going to fly. really? stop wasting everyone's time because you think you are entitled to special treatment, all right, that is it for tonight, thanks for having us in our home, i'm back,

♪ you need to survive much more than the cold to be a polar bear plunger. it takes courage, bravery and heart. each year these winter warriors jump to frozen glory to raise money for special olympics pennsylvania athletes and with nine locations statewide you're never far from a polar plunge in your area. join us... the many, the brave... the ones who are "freezin' for a reason."

♪ >> live from center city in philadelphia this is fox 29 news at 11:00. all right. are you ready four more days, super bowl sunday getting closer and closer. the wait is kind of getting unbearable. thanks for joining us tonight at 11:00. i'm iain page. super bowl at the top much our minds kind of hard to think about anything else and we're jealous of our fox 29 team in minneapolis for the big game. like our chris o'connell who joins us live tonight. chris? >> reporter: e-a-g-l-e-s! >> eagles. >> we got eagles fan here. >> in minnesota. >> this is what i was talking about. first of all, if any super bowl the most important thing about the events is these blue coats. they are volunteers. tens of thousands of these and you can tell they're so nice. >> welcome to minneapolis. we can't wait to see you guy.