[ cheers and applause ] this morning on "early today" -- a long, cold wait. hundreds of drivers trapped in their cars for hours in a massive snowstorm. deadly inferno. dozens are killed in israel's worst-ever forest fire. and new possibilities. a discovery in a california lake could point to new forms of life on earth and beyond. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. welcome to our viewers across the nation, including the pick time zone. i'm lynn berry. today, we begin with winter wallop.

residents in western new york got a bitter taste of the season's first big snowfall. hundreds of travelers were trapped in their cars wednesday night and into thursday after waves of lake-effect snow swept across the region forcing authorities to shut down several miles of the region's most traveled throughway. nbc's kurt gregory has our report. >> reporter: a sure sign of winter. lake-effect snow in western new york. more than a foot of snow and counting as some communities near buffalo deal with the first major snowfall of the season. >> we all know that lake-effect snow can produce lots of snow, inches of snow per hour. we've seen it with this lake-effect snow band. >> reporter: the storm caused blizzard-like conditions on the new york throughway, forcing thousands of motorists to spend the night in their cars. >> 11 hours. 11 hours. 9:30 to 8:30 in the morning. >> shoveling them out. shovel them out.

>> reporter: schools across the buffalo area closed the first snow day of the year. while in pittsburgh, schools were open. but the winter blast brought icy conditions, causing this school bus full of children to skid off a neighborhood road. >> we're just glad to be out of school. >> this is the way i had to go. i came across, and it started down fine, and then just turned sideways. >> reporter: digging out may be work for some, but when you're bred for this kind of weather, snow like this is what you live for. >> our white dog was freshly buried in the snow on the patio last night. she didn't want to come in. she was like, forget it, i'm happy out here. >> reporter: happy that winter weather is finally here. kurt gregory, nbc news. on capitol hill you might call it the tax step two-step. political maneuvering continued on both sides of the aisle yesterday as democrats and republicans tried to come to terms over those soon to expire

bush era tax cuts. here to sort it out, tracie potts. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. democrats and republicans in the senate thought they had a deal to focus on tax cuts and just that until one unknown senator, and now the votes that were happening tonight have been pushed to saturday and they will only focus on the democrats' plan. on the other side of the hill, the house already passed what they say is an extension only for the middle class. something that republicans firmly and candidly oppose. >> trying to catch my breath so i don't refer to this -- this maneuver going on today as chicken crap, all right? but this is nonsense. >> reporter: now, congress did get something done. they pass add temporary extension of the big government spending bills that were behind

and after the closed door meetings on tax reforms, progress, looking at extending unemployment and giving them a tax break. those negotiations still ongoing. >> tracie potts, thanks. now here is a look at other stories making news early today in america. in florida, a dramatic rescue scene from a police dash cam of an officer rescuing a passenger trapped inside a burning suv. after several attempts to broke the window, the officer fired two shots. he pulled the woman out and carried her to safety. police say the woman and another passenger suffered serious injuries in a rollover accident. the driver was pronounced dead. police in ohio are looking for two suspects who broke into a business and rolled out a huge safe. surveillance shows the men dragging the heavy, six-foot safe, even stopping for breaks in between. the safe was found a few days later already cracked out. back in florida, police are looking for a woman who

literally stole christmas from a hospital garden. security video shows the woman casually riding, stopping, then stealing 17 poinsettia plants. before pedaling off. adding insult to injury, police say she stole more poinsettias the next night. and in ohio, not even a nasty spell of bad weather stopped santa from showing up to greet the boys and girls. he had to find an alternative mode of transportation. he ditched the sleigh and reindeer and rode in on an ambulance. a bit of an extraordinary entrance, even for a guy who normally climbs down chimneys. now here's a look at your regional forecast. hi, bill. >> put on some pounz. >> don't say that about santa. >> three weeks left.

add some girth. wouldn't that be great. right? >> how's the weather, bill. >> it's all right, lynn. as far as what we're dealing with out there, alaska is seeing a horrible storm today. through the west, still unsettled. the pacific northwest here, just sprinkled out there. not a bad day for you. the moisture flow continues up through california, nevada, southern idaho and through montana where our little front sneaks through. boundary. this moisture is going to stay with us, looks like, throughout the day today. a couple sprinkles and showers out there. nothing heavy. no flooding. no winter storm warning to deal with but we'll see a little snow especially through areas of northern nevada. through 80, difficult drive, moisture near tahoe. back up in the high country, that's where you're seeing the heavier stuff. i mentioned alaska. economic out this storm bp a huge monster storm affecting anchorage today and areas of southern alaska.

mostly cloudy. 64. nevada, showers and 38. weekend forecast coming up, lynn. >> all right, bill. thank you. also coming up reeshgs tail sales zoom. home sales jump, and a lawsuit against bernard madoff's bank. your early morning biz headlines are straight ahead. plus, is this the weekend in animated farry tales that knocked harry potter off his pemp. wild finish in college football. michael vick leads the eagles and lebron with a homecoming to remember. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning -- new diplomatic cables released by wikileaks paint a bleak picture of afghanistan where the

level of corruption is "overwhelming." hamid karzai is described as an unstable and erratic president with the inability to grasp the most basic principles of state building. meanwhile, a domain name system provider says it has withdrawn service to the wikileaks.org name saying in a statement that multiple attacks on the site have threatened the stact of its instability of its infrastructure. the army is launching its first investigation into practices at arlington national cemetery after revelations yesterday that eight sets of cream aipted creamated remains were labeled under a single headstone titled unknown. this latest discovery could not have been caused by human error. president obama is pledging american aid to israel as it battles the worst forest fire in the country's history. the disaster has devastated one of israel's few forested areas,

killing at least 36 guards who were on their way to rescue prison inmates in the fire zone. and nasa says it has discovered a radically different form of life right here on earth. unlike other organisms, bacteria found in a california lake can thrive on the toxic chemical arsenic. scientists say the finding could redefine the ongoing search for extra terrestrial life. and now, here's an early look at how wall street will open the day. the dow opens at 11,362 after adding 106 points yesterday. the s&p rose 16 points, and the nasdaq gained 29. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei edged up 9 points. in hong kong, the hang seng lost 128. wall street rallied for a second day thursday, as concerns about concerns about europe's debt crisis continues to ease, and evidence continued to pile up. the american economy is improving. the european central bank moved to stem the growing euro zone

crisis with hefty purchases of portuguese and irish debt and kept its benchmark interest rate at a record low 1%. major retailers reported stronger than expected sales in november, another hint consumer confidence is improving. abercrombie & fitch jumped after sales soared 32%. the number of people who signed contracts to buy homes jumped more than 10% in october. economists had expected a slight decline. ahead of this morning's government's release of november's unemployment figures, data yesterday showed the average number of november's new unemployment claims fell to a two-year low, while economists expect today's numbers to show well over 100,000 new jobs, they also expect the unemployment rate will remain at 9.6%. it would be the 19th consecutive month above 9%, breaking the postworld war ii record set during the 1980s recession. elsewhere, pepsi is now the

world's largest beverage maker after buying the juice company for just under $1 billion. the trustee seeking money for former clients of bernie madoff you filed a lawsuit against jp morgan chase calling ed the bank "will fully blind and thoroughly complicit and aiding the imprisoned pronzy schemer's fraud." finally, two entrepreneurs in the college town of boulder, colorado, have launched hangover helpers. for 15 bucks a roommate, they deliver morning after burritos and gatorade to ease aching heads and stomachs, and they clean up the mess left from the night before, which for $15 actually sounds like a bargain. coming up -- fly, eagle, fly. a crazy ending in the desert. and how not to celebrate a goal. plus, love him or hate him, and welcome. there's a reason lebron james is known as "the king." your early morning sports headlines are just ahead.

a mideast storm for the plains and the weekend forecast is all coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." and in sports, all eyes were on

lebron james' much anti-ed return to cleveland last night, and he rocked his former home. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good friday morning. the weather in cleveland was cold and the reception for lebron james even colder last night. the son of akron made his highly anticipated return to boos as a member of the miami heat. he was heckled and booed every time he touched the ball. james seemed to thrive off the atmosphere. part of a 16-0 run in the first quarter. james took over in the third. james blew by everybody for the lay-up, the worst case scenario for cavalier fans. james finished with a season high 38 points and the heat won it in a blowout. 118-90. football -- michael vick late in the fourth, eagles beat the texans, 34-24. wild finish in college football. 23rd ranked arizona scored a touchdown with 27 seconds left

to tie rival arizona state. all they needed was the extra point for the win. blocked. sun devils forced o.t. teams exchanged touchdowns in overtime. wildcats needed an extra point to tie it. blocked again. arizona state with two huge plays on special teams won 30-28 in double o.t. the host countries for the 2018 and 2022 world cups were announced. russia secured the 2018 games while the u.s. favored to capture the '22 games, but not so fast. qatar, a tiny oil-rich nation won the right to bring soccer showcase events to the middle east for the first time. they'll build nine new stadiums, air conditioned fields to combat temperatures that can reach 130 degrees. speaking of soccer, check this out from italy. francisco kaputo scored. watch this celebration. punched his own teammate in the face. get this. that was the guy who set up the goal. with teammates like that, who

needs enemies? that's your early look at sports on "early today." have a great weekend. i'm fred roggin. "early today" sports brought to you by just for men mustache and beard. keep your edge. hit tv shows don't usually clean house, but that's exactly what's in store for one. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, there are the traditional christmas gift, the quirky christmas gift, and then there are the kind that are just indescribable. you're watching "early today."

welcomes back on this friday morning. the map doesn't depict it, northern nevada areas of rain and snow this morning. traveling through the high country of interstate 80 is the only difficult weather we'll see today. also showers and rain and snow and rain showers around tahoe. as far as the forecast goes, in many of these locations, nice as we go throughout your saturday. partly cloudy in the northwest. cool still in california. a sneak peek at sunday, not a lot changes. maybe a little rain and clouds for coastal california. if kwur you're watching on kc tv in bend, oregon, enjoy local residents onstage and back stage. "moon over buffalo" happens tonight at the theatrical company. that's your pacific event of the day, lynn. >> thank you. an early look at this morning's headlines in

entertainment- this weekend will be pretty quiet in terms of box office news with family holdovers dominating. "harry potter and the deathly hallows: part 1" will take a stab at a third week as top film, taking in somewhere around $25 million. that should push its overall take to over $250 million. the animated "tangled" will battle for first, taking in around $25 million in its second weekend out, topping the $100 million mark overall. elsewhere -- in a statement released by her spokeswoman, aretha franklin says the surgery she had thursday for a serious but undisclosed illness was "highly successful." finally, some bloggers are ca calling it a brave move. the show's co-creator is warning, like high school, the show's creator says the current batch of starless have to graduate and go their separate ways soon and be replaced by

younger actors. a lot of fans upset about that. >> clips you just showed of "glee," the most i've ever watched of the show. >> me, too. everybody's such a huge fan. not surprised, but i'm glad. and this comes to us from news channel 7 in waterloo, iowa. if you can't find thperfect christmas gift, get a cow. are you serious? rent bonnie for $75. renters get a certificate, a a cowendar. a sample of her cheese and even a chance to visit. 140 people signed up. one man has gifted 11 of them. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. d

visitors to one zoo made the best of a cold situation. europe has been hit with freezing snow and cold temperature, but that didn't stop some brave folks from heading out for the day. while some animals snuggled up to stay warm, others like deer and penguins were right at home in the elements. here's one christmas tree you don't want to keep by the fireplace. it's made entirely of dark chocolate. weighing in at over 8,000 pounds, the towering christmas confection was createded by a parisian chocolatier. all the proceeds will go to charity, making this holiday

treat even sweeter. here's your chance to own a piece of the man in black. johnny cash memorabilia will be hitting the auction block in california. you can score clothing, boots, even a guitar for 30 grand once belonging to the iconic country legend, or take home his to-do list, which includes reminders not to smoke, to kiss his wife, june, and not to kiss anyone else, which i think is hilarious. >> a little piece of the man in black. a little sense of humor. >> hey, i'd like a piece of the fire. >> a huge fan of johnny cash. i don't know. maybe i'll be looking that up. time now for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc -- in washington, an advisory to the food and drug administration will weigh new research that could lead to allowing those who are significantly less obese to qualify for lap band weight loss surgery. today is international day

of persons with disabilities, established by the united nations to promote a better understanding of the political, social and economic rights and challenges facing the disabled community. and right here at 30 rockefeller plaza in new york, some amateur and professional gift wrappers will put their skills to the test at the most gifted wrapper contest. all day long, you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. and tonight be sure to watch brian williams with nbc "nightly news." and, finally, here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. a look at what's next for new york congressman charles rangel after the house censured the 20-term democrat. and ann curry reports on the travels of actor and humanitarian george clooney to sudan. now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good one.

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