this morning on "early today" -- white house shake-up. president obama tapped former commerce secretary william daley as his new chief of staff. safety concerns. the u.s. warrants hundreds of u.s. rights activists and foreign diplomates named by wikileaks. and anchors away. adecommissioned u.s. navy vessel is sent to its final resting place. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and a very good morning to you. welcome to those including the pacific time zone.

i'm veronica de la cruz. today, we begin with a new chief in the house. president obama has named a new chief of staff, political manager william daley. incomes's brian mooar joins us live from washington with the latest on that as well as a busy day in congress yesterday. brian, good morning to you. >> reporter: hi, veronica. the president's new gatekeeper is well known here in washington. former commerce secretary, some liberals not happy about this choice saying it's like bringing wall street into the white house. meanwhile, the congressional budget office says that a repeal of the health care law would add $237 billion to the federal deficit over a decade. still, new house speaker john boehner says she going full speed ahead in trying to get that law knocked off the books. and republicans did read the constitution on the house floor yesterday, but they cut some corners historically speaking. they left out the parts that were repealed by later amendments including the portion that deemed slaves 3/5 a person.

meanwhile, republicans are a bit red-faced this morning. two of their members voted a half dozen times before it was discovered they hadn't officially been sworn in yet. veronica? >> brian moor inn washington. thanks so much. for the first time since the 9/11 terror attacks, the pentagon laid out plans to reduced spending and the size of the military. yesterday, roberts gates announced $78 billion in spending cuts over the next five years. the proposals includes reducing military troop levels up to 47,000 and raising retiree benefits. gates said the department is not exempt from belt-tightening just because of its duties to defend the nation. citing an italian news organization, countless turtledoves have been found dead in italy. although there has been a lot of speculation behinthe cause, biologists say the reality is that these die offs happen all the time with 95 recorded in

north america alone over the past eight months. so what's happening this time? well, one famed harvard biologist says mass media, particularly the internet, is simply giving the die-offs more attention. and now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america -- california police are looking for two armed suspects who attempted to rob a food truck driver. the men approached the truck window. one was holding a gun and grabbed the tip jar. the clerk grabbed it back and hid. the suspects left empty handed. a walmart employee is recovering from a broken nose and other injuries after a blow to the face with a jar of cheese. a man who was previously asked to leave ran down the aisle toward an employee. he grabbed the jar and hurled it at the employee but missed, hitting a woman instead. now he's wanted by the police. and a half ton life-sized butter sculpture is on display at the annual pennsylvania farm

show, depicting children playing on a jungle gym and playing catch with a football player. ironically, the art made of a massive amount of lard, encouraged kids to be active and to eat healthier. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. a massive amount of lard. >> hey, just -- i'll take some and put on my pancakes this morning and be good. right? let's talk about what's going on out there this morning. good morning, everyone, to you. a heavy rain in northern portions of especially north of seattle from bellingham, northern portions of puget sound. and los angeles, a cutoff low has inched itself closer to the coast, that's brought showers continuing today maybe a few thunderstorms possible.

just one of those weird systems spinning about three day. the heavy rain threat up to the north. as far as what we'll deal with today, still a little cool, but at least sun any much of oregon, north california and nevada, even arizona has a good deal of sunshine today. the heavier rain, seattle northward. olympia also getting into rainfall. the cut offlow brought showers briefly to los angeles, now dissipating headed towards the higher elevations. later this afternoon, heating. may get a shue e or thunderstorm. today's forecast for your friday, san francisco looks great. sacramento, sunny, too. to your north is where we bring in the clouds and where we bring in the rain. especially washington state. showers for portland. mixture of sun and clouds, much of southern california and arizona, from tucson to phoenix, highs only in the 60s. still a cool time of year. january's been chilly so far. l.a., 63. about a 20% chance we'll pop up a thunderstorm or two somewhere

between l.a. and down to san diego later this afternoon. weeks ago.ok at your friday oregon, chance of showers for you. >> look forward to the weekend forecast coming up. >> lake tahoe not looking too bad. you're right about the ski weather. absolutely. unemployment uncertainty, facebook's future and how to ruin a college student's holiday. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, the good news keeps rolling in for the homeless man with the golden voice. coming up -- rex ryan and tom brady. stanford gets lucky and a hockey shot that you've never seen before. you're watching "early today." eh

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz. here are some of your top headlines this morning -- the u.s. state department is warning hundreds of human rights activists, foreign government officials and business people identified in published wikileaks cables of potential threats to their safety. administration officials have moved a handful of them to safer locations amid fear they may be attacked or imprisoned as a direct result of the disclosure. in the country's first execution of the year, last night the state of oklahoma put to death a 39-year-old man convicted of killing a store clerk during a robbery. billy don alverson was among four men found guilty of a 1995 murder. a u.s. navy ship has a new home in the bottom of the ocean. scuttled in the caribbean waters off the islands. the sunken vessel will now serve as an artificial reef and tourist attraction.

and a washington state couple are the envy of the nation this morning after coming forward to claim half of tuesday's $380 million mega million jackpot. the retired boeing worker and his wife who are the parents of 6 and grandparents of 23, say their immediate plans include buying a new home and an rv. >> and now here's an early look at one of your top health headlines. most men have problems dealing with crying women. men who see a woman's tears experience a dip in sexual arousal and testosterone. the event occurred when men didn't know what they were snifring were tears. the results are the first to suggest humans chemically communicate with tears. for more information on this and other health stories, head to the web and check out the health page online at msnbc.com.

"early today" health is brought to you by vagisil wash with odor block. the confident clean. and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,697 after dipping 25 points yesterday. the s&p shed 2 points. but the nasdaq rose 7. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei added 11 points, but in hong kong, the hang seng fell 99. the answer to whether wall street's recent rally has a strength to keep going, at least for now, could lie in the jobs report today. first time jobs claims ticked higher last week added uncertainty to today's more upbeat employment report. most experts think employers added about 145,000 positions last month predicting the unemployment late slip down to 9.7%. traders weren't exactly in a buying mood thursday after retailers reported weaker than expected holiday sales, blaming the blizzard of 2010. target, gap and macy's all fell.

meanwhile, agricultural productsmaker monsanto added 2% after reporting higher sales are helping it rake in profits once again. microsoft helped the nasdaq stay in the black after announcing its new tablet and smartphone technology will contain chips made by england's arm holdings. the move makes microsoft have ties with intel in favor of the same chip found in apple's iphone and ipad. graphics specialist nvidia got a boost by aligning itself with arms shares technology. sending shares up over 14%. overseas this morning, shares of samsung dipped after a weaker than expected earnings estimate. speculation is swirling facebook could be inching closer to going public next year. the social network revealed plans to increase its number shareholders above 500 which according to security and exchange commission rules would require facebook to disclose key financial data or go public. finally, if you think your holidays are stressful, take a

listen to this -- officials at cal state l.a. are apologizing for mistakenly e-mailing 5,000 students to say they had been disqualified from returning for the winter quarter. blamed on a mailing order coding error. yikes! stanford keeps its lucky charm. the nfl playoffs are set to begin, and the postman rings twice in hockey. the lightning's star player brings the thunder. your early morning sports headlines are just ahead. chilly air continues to dominate the forecast into the weekend. your weekend forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today." heart disease kills one woman every minute.

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and change your life. speak up to save lives. log on to goredforwomen.org find out how you can prevent heart disease. well, good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports -- stanford just completed its best football season in school history and, as it turns out, their luck hasn't run out. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good friday morning. as if the season wasn't tough enough for the carolina panthers, the team finished with the worst record in the nfl and was going to draft stanford quarterback andrew luck first overall. now the panthers are out of luck. andrew has decided to complete his senior year at stanford to complete his degree in architectural design. the only question for stanford,

will coach jim harbaugh take less money to stay in northern california and follow his quarterback? the seahawks host the saints at 4:30. jets travel to indy to play the colts. jets' coach rex ryan knows he'll have his hands full with peyton manning and didn't miss an opportunity to take a shot at tom brady. >> this is who he is. the guy is tremendous. there's nobody like this guy in the league. nobody studies like him and all that. i know brady thinks he does and all that stuff. i think there's probably a little more help from belichick with brady than there is with peyton mann, but it's peyton manning. that's who it is. >> should be a fun weekend of football. jets win they play brady and the patriots next weekend. basketball dirk nowitzki sat out a third straight game and the mavericks missed him. he had a sprained knee. in the third quarter, thunder was down by one. to the fourth, durant doing it all by himself, game high 28.

thunder won it, 99-95. finally, a junior league hockey game in iowa. andrew ficano hit the puck so hard that when it split the post, it split into two pieces. i've never seen that before. need proof? here is the puck. sliced right down the middle. and no, you don't get two points for that. that's your early look at sports on "early today." have a great weekend. i'm fred roggin. another embarrassing mugshot of a misbehaving celebrity. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, he may look like your average high school student, but he'll see, he is anything but. you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this friday. our friends up in alaska, still feeling the effects of a pretty cold january start. fairbanks today minus 2. barrow at 1. typical. anchorage, sunny. not too bad. more daylight increasing minutes. juno not bad either at 33. not a forecast you want in paradise. hawaii, chances of rain about everywhere. leave the sunscreen in the bag. as far at the west coast, san francisco, sacramento, sunshine. rainfall in the pacific northwest. a peek as we head into saturday. also including maybe even a chance for snow flurries in seattle. should be rather dry going into

our saturday. phoenix there at 62. finally, a look at your sunday forecast. not much as far as big storms go. high pressure's going to begin controlling the weather. maybe snow flurries there on interstate 5, possibly portland. not a significant winter event. if you're watching on kntv, area culture, a tradition of coastal fishing. see 70 work on display at fish and fishing, at the coos art museum. that's your pick event of the day, veronica. go fish. >> okay. exactly. are you sure about hawaii? can't rain in paradise? >> la to. some portions are not getting green. got to rain sooner or later. >> you're right. now here's a look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. at the box office, "true grit" will battle "little fockers" for number one. nicholas cage isn't expected to help the medieval saga. "season of the witch" earned more than $10 million.

even less expected from "country strong" predicting it won't even earn double digit millions. elsewhere, a judge dismissed drug convictions against howard k. stern and her physician. and add jamie presley to the mugshot hall of shame. she was busted on dui charges in santa monica and released on $15,000 bail. finally, in yet another happy chapter of the inspiring story of the golden voice homeless man, ted williams, msnbc announced williams recorded voiceovers for its lean forward campaign, which began airing last night. msnbc said williams embodied the very same ideals that the lean forward campaign seeks to highlight. bill, so often we report bad news, and this story is such a great story. >> it's all good. plus, he's funny. he was on jimmy fallon cracking

everybody up. >> what did he say about matt lauer? >> that it brings out the girl in him, matt lauer is so good looking. this comes to us from wluv tv 6 in marquette, michigan. one high school student's determination has made his an inspiration. cody has been wheelchair bound since he was 5, but his disability doesn't stand in his way from playing high school football. he underwent strength training for a year and not only an asset to the team but an inspiration to his community. now inspiring the nation, he is the only player from michigan's upper peninsula nominated for a national athletic award. good for him. i'm veronica de la cruz and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

in japan, the current hero of an ancient sport performed a secret tradition. thousands gathered to see the grand champion perform new year's rights at a tokyo shrine. the 24 -pound wrestler is only the 6th champion of a sport historians dated back 2000 years. the honor of performing the rights is all the more impressive given that this champion is mongolian. so who would win? the tortoise or the hare? one aquarium puts that age old question to the test. a sea turtle raced against a diver in a rabbit outfit reenacting the fable all to

celebrate the year of the rabbit. but this time, there was a different ending with the overly sportsman-like rabbit winning. if you thought all penguins loved the cold weather, you better think again. at one zoo in denmark, a group struggled to stay warm in freezing temperatures outside. they avoided the frigid water and bunched together, but that didn't stop some from trembling uncontrollably. not all types of penguins come from the south pole. experts say most penguins like cool, but not the freezing temps. oh. bill, they are too cute. who was that penguin, chilly willie -- >> yes, very good. wow. going back. >> he was always trying to stay warm. >> it was a cartoon. that was good. >> yeah. all right. time now for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc -- two mississippi sisters will be freed on the condition that one donate a kidney to the other who is suffering kidney failure. last week, mississippi's governor suspended their life sentences for armed robbery. after this morning's release

november's unemployment report, president obama will announce his pick to replace larry summers as his top economic adviser. gene sterling is expected to be chose ena veteran of the clinton administration. and in pittsburgh, the american dialect society will hold its annual meeting and vote on the word of the year for 2010. 2009's word of the year was tweet. one of my favorites. 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. in an nbc news exclusive, brian williams goes one-on-one with the new house speaker, republican john boehner. and meet the lucky washington couple who came forward with one of the winning mega millions tickets. so unfair. now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm veronica de la cruz. thank you so much for watching

"early today," just your first stop of the day, today, on your nbc station. have a great weekend.