[ cheers and applause ] this morning on "early today" -- preemptive strike. president obama warns republicans against attaching any unrelated measures to a payroll tax cut package. cloaking effect? why this new space video has extraterrestrial believers buzzing. and false alarm. security video captures some squirrel mischief at a florida school. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. welcome to our viewers across the nation, including the pacific time zone. i'm lynn berry. and today we begin with veto power. president obama warned congress

yesterday that if they tie the approval of a controversial oil pipeline to a bill to extend payroll tax cuts he will reject it. nbc's tracie potts joins us with more. good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. the pipeline decision was put a off until after the election, but republicans say this could consider bringing up tens of thousands of jobs. with the prime minister of canada yesterday president obama said absolutely not, not that, not any other issue should be linked to this. the pipeline is controversial because it would go almost 2,000 miles through middle america to canada. but there are also some environmental concerns. what about oil spills? what about greenhouse gas emissions? there have been protests over this already, that's one of the reasons why the decision has been put off. they are looking for a different route. but the focus here is extending

this payroll tax cut. the president says it needs to be voted up or down on its own. republicans concerned about the impact on social security, now we understand their plan on the house side will be ready for a vote on monday. lynn? >> tracie potts in washington. thank you. well, former penn state coach jerry sandusky was arrested. he was arrested on new charges of alleged sexual child abuse. a lawyer for sandusky says he expects his client will be released some time later today after posting a $250,000 bail. nbc's kurt gregory reports. >> reporter: mr. sandusky, any comments? police led jerry sandusky away from his home in handcuffs wednesday afternoon following new criminal charges of alleged child sexual abuse. the charges involve allegations by two new accusers who claim sandusky abused them. in court documents a grand jury accuses sandusky of assaulting one of the boys in the basement of his home. it says the victim claims,

quote, he screamed for help, knowing that sandusky's wife was upstairs but no one came to help him. the former penn state assistant coach was free on bond following his initial arrest on november 5th, charged with sexually abusing eight other children. abusing eight other children. according to grand jury testimony, sandusky met all of the alleged victims through the second mile charity. sandusky has repeatedly said he is innocent of all charges. >> how would you take it if you were facing the kind of charges he's facing and your life's work was helping kids? you'd be devastated. he and his wife and his children are all devastated by this. >> reporter: sandusky's lawyer says he expects him to be out of jail on bail some time today. kurt gregory, nbc news. meanwhile, in upstate new york a very different outcome for child sex abuse allegations that gained national attention in the wake of that penn state scandal. authorities say former syracuse university assistant men's basketball coach, bernie fine,

cannot be prosecuted for sexual child abuse charges, this because of the statute of limitations has run out. while a new york district attorney found two former ball boys to be credible, legally their accusations of molestation date back too far, to the mid-1980s and '90s. elsewhere, a federal judge showed little mercy yesterday for impeached former illinois governor rod blagojevich sentencing him to serve 14 years in jail per corruption. pleading for leniency in a chicago courtroom yesterday, blagojevich offered his first public apology since he was convicted on 17 counts of bribery and attempted extortion. the soon-to-be 55-year-old former governor admitted to making, quote, terrible mistakes, including most notoriously trying to cash in as governor and by selling off the appointment to president obama's old senate seat. his sentence is set to begin february 16th. now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. a couple of indiana thieves

rammed their way into a gun store with their suv. whoa! once inside, the mass robbery suspects smashed display cases, escaping with several semi-automatic weapons in a second vehicle. the owner believes the crime was pulled off by former customers. a washington man exchanged gunfire with police during a dramatic standoff. the shootout forced neighbors to evacuate and lock down nearby schools. the suspect kept officers at bay with high-powered rifles. he continued firing at officers even after a fire ignited in his home. while the house eventually burned to the ground, authorities have yet to recover the gunman's body. finally in florida where surveillance cameras recorded this little guy behind a false fire alarm inside an elementary school. look closely there, footage shows a squirrel climbing up the wall and pulling the alarm lever. the tape of the troublemaker was

shown at a recent budget meeting group that they were hoping would secure them more funding for school maintenance. we'll see if that worked out for them. if anything, it's funny to watch. for a look at regional and national weather here's bill karins with your weather channel forecast. good morning to you, bill. >> that's a strong squirrel. >> it has pullable thumbs. pretty amazing. >> good morning, erevyone. very quiet around the country. the nor'easter is nowev heading out, so the airports around the country will be fine for travel today. actually, traveling on many of the roads will be just fine, too. we are going into one of the quieter weather patterns we have seen around the country. we have had one storm after another, whether it will the west coast, the rockies or the east coast, but we have a tranquil zonal pattern with temperatures about average. that's what we'll see going through the middle of december. now there's just a couple clouds, high clouds, for the most part stringing in from northern california near the tahoe area through the heart of nevada. also clouds in colorado.

and up in montana we have some low clouds, too. a lot of air stagnation problems up in the pacific northwest. high pressure is building overhead, light wind for the valleys where the pollution can collect. just poor air quality, but that's the worst of it. temperatures chilly in a few spots, but we'll warm with decent sunshine today. partly cloudy skies at worst in the northwest with highs in the upper 30s. we are starting to get warmer air in areas of arizona and southern california. that supply of cold air is ever so slowly drying up and temperatures should warm aftern. we could see patchy, freezing fog or drizzle in a few isolated spots, but overall oregon is looking nice. warmer forecast for your friday, even better over the weekend. >> nice, bill, thank you.

banks rise, boeing and its workers make peace and what makes a perfume cost $1 million? your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, not content with nearly running for president in south carolina's primary, stephen colbert has much bigger plans. coming up, the marlins make another splash. sidney crosby is back on the shelf. and a questionable call leads to overtime in college hoops. 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. russian prime minister vladimir putin accused the united states of encouraging protests over russia's parliamentry election and lots of funds were used to influence the vote. he talked about hillary clinton's comments over concerns on the election's fairness, quote, gave a signal to opponents.

health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius has taken the unprecedented step of overruling the fda by keeping plan b, the morning-after pill, prescription-only for girls age 16 and under. sebelius argued young girls wouldn't understand how to use the pill while critics say the decision was politically motivated. a sight-seeing helicopter on a luxury sunset tour of the las vegas strip and hoover dam crashed into a remote site killing the pilot and four passengers. recovery operations have been suspended until the morning. new video from nasa has alien hunters abuzz showing a giant spacecraft parked near the planet mercury. the video shows a massive solar flare supposedly revealing the about to the right of mercury. and the world's oldest dog according to guinness died at the age of 26 and 8 months. by some calculations that would put his age at a whopping 125

human years. well, now here is an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,196 after gaining 46 points yesterday. the s&p added two points but the nasdaq was down a fraction. taking a look at overseas trading this morning in tokyo, the nikkei lost 58 points while in hong kong the hang seng fell 132. well, wall street with another day of gains on wednesday as investors keep their fingers crossed over the european financial summit which starts today. traders positioned themselves for either summit success yielding a clear plan to put europe's debt plan under control or a failure and crisis escalation. those hedging against failure drove up the price of the u.s. ten-year treasury note as well as gold. some just sit on the sidelines as wednesday's light volume showed. financials rose again led by jpmorgan chase and bank of america. and investors brushed off standard pnd poor's again putting the agency european

union's credit rating on credit watch negative. in data, a second straight monthly gain in borrowing, including credit card spending underline growing consumer confidence. bloated oil and gas supplies due to weak demand pushed oil prices lower. martha stewart living jumped after jcpenney bought a stake in the company. men's warehouse propped up after expectations. talbot's skyrocketed after a private equity firm. astrazeneca is slashing over 1100 jobs from the sales force. and watch boeing today, union machinists overwhelmingly extended a contract extension ending a bitter dispute over jobs on boeing's updated 737. and finally, want to smell like a million bucks? that's what it will cost you for dkny's golden delicious perfume. it comes in a container made from 14 karat yellow and white gold with white diamonds, yellow

sapphires and a giant yellow canary diamond. the scent? orange, water, white rose, orchid and golden delicious apple. for all those details it should cost a million bucks. the marlins change their mind, a top-ranked college team hangs tough, and a hockey's golden boy is out again. plus, the nhl's points leader helps put one out for the philadelphia flyers. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. and our big east coast storm is exiting. cold air is on its way. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, if major league baseball's world championship were awarded for winter headlines, but now the miami marlins would have it all sewn up. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. >> good morning. when albert pujols plays in miami next year, not going to be as a member of marlins. they have taken the $200 million offer off the table and signed mark buehrle to a $48 458 million deal. college hoops between arizona and number 13 florida. wildcats down three, final seconds. inbounds, hill and he was fouled as he was shooting a three. now, you make the call. he was definitely fouled but was he shooting?

billy donovan was irate. hill made off three free throws to tie the game and force overtime. florida outscored the wildcats by six in the extra frame. arizona made it interesting but florida got the "w," 78-72. hockey, the next two stops on the sidney crosby comeback tour have been canceled. he's taking two games off for precautionary reasons after taking a hard hit monday night. he's missed 68 games with post concussion syndrome. no problem for alex ovechkin but he's been in a bit of a scoring slump. maybe this will get him going. stopped and popped for his first goal in nearly two weeks. capitals scored four in the third and beat the senators 5-3. the sakers and buffalo. sabres got things started with three goals in the first. billy with his third of the year and flyers scored four straight. the flyers dame back to score four straight. the sabres were tied late in the

third and forced overtime. a break-away from center rice to beat ryan miller for the win. he leads the league in points. the flyers won a wild one 5-4 in overtime. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. one star's named most bankable, another entertainer of the year. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. and survivors gather together for what could be the last time. you're watching "early today."

welcome back. partly cloudy skies and cold mornings and decent afternoons is in the forecast for the next two days for the intermountain west and everybody on the west coast. not many weather issues at all to deal with. temperatures in the and 60s for arizona. we don't change a lot from thursday to friday. a slight warm up, but some areas still have stormy weather to deal with in alaska. many areas like anchorage have a chance for snow. if you are watching us in portland, oregon, see a luminous winter wonderlandfilled with sculptures, lighted trees and animal silhouettes at the oregon zoo. that's your pacific event of the day. >> all right, bill, thank you so much. here's an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. forbes has a new list out, the most bankable stars in hollywood. twilight series star kristin stewart is tops.

for every dollar stewart makes, her movies make $55.83. in second place is anne hathaway who earns close to $67. third went to robert pattinson, daniel ratcliff is fourth. and speaking of ratcliff, he was named entertainer of the year. the "harry potter" star was also on broadway. and stephen colbert tried yet again to try to get his name on south carolina's presidential primary ballot only this time he wanted to sponsor the whole thing. of course he did. colbert has offered more than $100,000 to name the contest the colbert nation super pack presidential primary. why not, right? the state gop director said, quote, the party respectfully declines. come on, don't you have a sense of humor? if anything, it would be funny.

>> if he had gotten on the ballot, he probably would have gotten 5% of the vote. >> it is like when the write-in votes get more than the second. this comes to us from pearl harbor, hawaii, where thousands gathered for a memorial that may be its last. international guard jets began an emotional ceremony on the 70th anniversary of the japanese attacks. in particular this day was a day of good-byes. navy divers buried the ashes of one attack survivor on his former ship, joining his ship mates. and because the pearl harbor survivors association is disbanding, this year's gathering will likely be the last for the 120 remaining vets who survived the day of infamy. i'm lynn berry and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

a marathon is hard enough. try doing it like this. 36 athletes endured subzero temperatures during the seventh annual antarctic marathon. contestants had to protect their skin with multiple layers of clothing and cold weather gear. as tough as it looks, though, each competitor did finish safely. in guatemala it's time to get rid of the bad and welcome the good. traditionally families do this by setting fire to figures resembling lucifer at the burning of the devil festival. communities participate in the ceremony to symbolize peace and bring good omen.

dating back centuries the ritual to removal evil spirits and kicks off the christmas celebrations. christmas has gone high tech in italy. workers assembled hundreds of lights on the slope of mountain in italy outlining the shape of a christmas tree over 2,000 feet high. then it was up to pope benedict, using a touchscreen tablet remotely from the vatican to light the massive tree. the tree is thought to be the largest of its kind in the world. you know you're really out of it when the pope is using an ipad before you are. i'm technologically, you know, challenged. >> you have used one before. >> i have used one before but i don't own one. >> i doubt the pope is sitting there at home playing, you know, the games. >> angry birds? words with friends? it's time for an early look at stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc. former new jersey governor jon corzine is expected to face fierce questioning at a congressional hearing examining the brokerage firm's bankruptcy and the search for $1.2 billion

in missing customer money. sotheby's in new york will preview items to be auctioned next week, including a personal check signed by george washington, sheet music handwritten by duke ellington and charlie chaplain's bowler hat. on this day in 1980 former beatle john lennon was shot to death outside his new york city apartment building. all day long you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. tonight be sure to watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news." finally, here's a look at what's coming up later on the "today" show. the details of a missing florida mom, michelle parker, who vanished last month following the airing of her episode on "the people's court." and evan lysacek takes a spin on the famous rockefeller ice rink. keep it here for your latest 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. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com