5 things you need to know Tuesday

1. Millions hunker down and brace for blizzard across Northeast

Ahead of a massive snowstorm that threatened to wreak havoc along much of the Northeast corridor, millions were bracing early Tuesday for several days of misery, with road travel banned in three states and two key metropolitan areas, thousands of canceled flights and the threat of blizzard conditions and knee-deep snow paralyzing the region. Statewide road travel bans were already in effect for New Jersey, Massachusetts and Connecticut by late Monday ahead of what Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said was "clearly going to be a really big deal."

2. It's Media Day at the Super Bowl

Media Day started as a low-key affair before turning into an international event with memorable moments that include a marriage proposal to Tom Brady, trash talk and B-list celebrities. Both teams will separately meet for 60 minutes each with the hundreds of media assembled in Phoenix at US Airways Arena. It starts with the New England Patriots at 12:30 p.m. ET followed by the Seattle Seahawks at 2:15 p.m. While this year's event is likely to produce the unexpected, there's also a couple of important questions that will be answered. How will the Patriots address the continuing story of Deflategate? Will Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch make news for saying something or saying nothing at all? Meanwhile, here's one great photo from every Super Bowl in history:

3. Exonerations hit record high in 2014

At least 67 wrongful convictions were reversed and 125 exonerations recorded last year in the U.S., both record numbers. A report by the National Registry of Exonerations found that the legal system is "increasingly willing to act on innocence claims that have often been ignored."

4. 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz

Renee Ganz, a survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau, and other survivors will return to the concentration camp on Tuesday, which is Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. "This may be the last major anniversary we will be able to remember with those who experienced the Holocaust firsthand," says Robert Singer, secretary-general for the Jewish congress, which helped organize the event. The trip will be difficult, "but it is important," says Ganz.

5. Sling TV begins official operations

Sling TV is ready to hit the "on" button. The Internet-delivered subscription video service from satellite TV provider Dish Network begins official operations Tuesday. The first invites start going out at 12 a.m. ET on Tuesday to customers who preregistered on Sling.com. Everyone else has to wait, but they will get a free one-week trial when the service opens to all customers within the next two weeks. Sling TV is an important advance in the streaming Net TV marketplace because it wraps up some popular live, linear feeds of basic-cable channels such as ESPN and CNN that previously were not available outside of traditional pay-TV packages.

And, the essentials:

Weather: The national weather forecast for Tuesday calls for blizzard conditions for much of the Northeast.

Stocks: U.S. stock futures dropped Tuesday while the Nikkei closed at its highest level in a month.

TV Tonight: Wondering what to watch tonight? TV critic Robert Bianco looks at The Flash, Agent Carter and CSI.

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