[ cheers and applause ] this morning on "early today." senate stalemate. partisan skirmishes continue. as dueling plans for extending the payroll tax cut are blocked. great balls of fire. molten lava crawls through a nearly-abandoned neighborhood in hawaii. and the fur flies, why an animal rights group is handing out the and the fur flies, why an animal rights group is handing out the things they're most against. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning, welcome to our viewers across the nation, including the pacific time zone. today we begin with running out

of time. what has begun an all-too familiar scene on capitol hill, republicans and democrats are deadlocked over key legislation. this time if congress can't compromise on how to pay for payroll tax cuts that expire december 31st, tens of millions of americans will see smaller paychecks next year. nbc's brian mooar reports. >> reporter: a sharply divided senate shot down competing attempts at payroll tax cuts. for more than 160 million americans. >> the motion is not agreed to. >> reporter: republicans refused to raise taxes on millionaires. democrats wouldn't agree to slash federal jobs. and if congress doesn't extend the tax cut and unemployment insurance, president obama is threatening to keep lawmakers in town through the holidays. >> we are going to stay here as long as it takes to make sure that the american people's taxes don't go up on january 1st. >> reporter: the president is refusing to bow to republicans in the last big showdown of a politically toxic year. >> they think we should do a payroll tax but the question is,

what price will they extract from the president in order to get it done? and i just want to make clear. this is not about me. >> reporter: republicans are pressuring the president to sign off on building the keystone oil pipeline from canada. >> at a time when the american people are still asking the question, where are the jobs, i think this is a bipartisan proposal a president ought to endorse. >> reporter: before blocking the payroll tax cut bill, senate republicans held up the nomination of the president's choice to be a new financial watch dog for consumers. >> so, i just want to send a message to the senate. we are not giving up on this. we'll keep going at it. >> reporter: the president and republicans winding down this year the way they started it -- at odds. brian mooar, nbc news, washington. elsewhere, jon corzine, former ceo of mf global faced a house committee investigating one of the largest bankruptcies in u.s. history and gave the first public defense of his leadership in the failed company thursday. corzine, the one-time new jersey senator and the first former

senator to be subpoenaed to testify before congress in over 100 years did offer questions and answers to all of those questions and never invoked his fifth amendment rights, despite the fact his testimony can be used against him in the future. corzine testified he doesn't know what happened to the missing customer money, didn't monitor movement of specific funds and blamed the firm's failure on bad decisions by his predecessor. well, overseas now where iran has released new video it claims is a high-tech u.s. drone that crashed last week. the video aired on iranian state tv and shows iranian military officials examining the alleged drone which appears surprisingly intact. it shows no damage and some experts, who noted a significant difference in the position of the drone's wings, believe it may be a mock-up. u.s. officials have acknowledged the loss of the advanced drone that was involved in a cia reconnaissance mission. the pentagon has, however,

declined to comment on the iranian video. a community is still healing from the single deadliest shooting rampage in u.s. history. now police in virginia are investigating a tragedy near virginia tech campus that left two dead yesterday. the university said it was just after noon yesterday when deriek crouse pulled over a driver in a campus parking lot. witnesses told police another man walked up and shot the officer, then ran toward a nearby building. by the time police found him, the gunman had apparently shot himself to death. the officer and father of five did not survive. well, now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. a store clerk and customer lived through a terrifying ordeal inside a florida gas station. three masked robbery suspects entered waving guns and demanding money. the suspects held guns to the heads of robbery victims throughout. the crooks escaped on foot after emptying the cash register. no arrests have been made.

a massive beehive have residents in one florida community have resident feeling like prisoners in their own neighborhood. thousands of bees have taken up residence at a foreclosed property. neighbors are helpless since the city refuses to step in. although the dwelling is empty, officials say removing the beehive is the homeowners' responsibility. and finally, a fur coat giveaway in cincinnati is turning heads. that's because, listen to this, peta, people for the ethical treatment of animals, gave over 100 furs to homeless men and women. the animal rights group, most known for slashing paint on fur, decided to give donated animal coats to the needy. keeping with tradition, peta splattered white paint on the coats to remove their monetary value. here is nbc meteorologist bill karins with your weather channel forecast.

good morning to you, bill. out there in california, west hollywood, they banned furs from being sold anywhere in that community. >> really? >> this is a big deal. now they found a solution. to do something with all of the furs. >> for the homeless people could not relocate there. >> it's california, they probably don't need a fur coat, anyway. >> good point. well good morning, everyone. although it's been a little chilly lately, we do need the winter coat in many areas once again. temperatures continue to be below freezing. chilly actually, medford, 22, one of the colder spots out there in the west. boise, you're at 19 and seattle is just below freezing and l.a. is 44 and phoenix is 41, this week has been a repeat. each and every other day seems like the day before. a huge area of high pressure, slow-moving weather pattern. that's good if you like the sunshine during the afternoon. it's going to sit her and drift as we go throughout the weekend. so today is pretty decent, no big storms heading this way. it won't be until about sunday that a little storm will head into california with some rain

so we're looking pretty nice. areas like los angeles will escape with a good weekend. but by the time we get to sunday and monday, the storm moves from california to southern california when we'll have a little bit of rain to deal with. not until the beginning of next week. overall today, just like yesterday, chilly, then nice, fresno, california looks good and yuka starting to warm up a little bit. weekend forecast coming up. thanks, also coming up, stocks tumble. unemployment improves. and coke's secret formula comes out of hiding. sort of. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, she sang about kissing a girl. but we'll tell you which girl she asked fr a lock of hair. coming up, the deal that was, the deal that wasn't, and

one washed-up band. you're watching "early today."

good morning. welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning. former penn state assistant football coach jerry sandusky was released on $250,000 bail thursday after spending a night in jail on new sexual abuse charges. in a statement sandusky's wife defended her husband saying the accusers are making up their story. a new government study says texting while driving continues to grow at an alarming rate. especially among young people. about half of american drives between 21 and 24 say they've typed messages or e-mailed while driving with many believing it's dangerous but only when others do it. nasa's inspector general says the space agency has lost or misplaced more than 500 pieces of lunar rocks and other space samples since 1970. the report says nasa needs to

keep better track of what it loans to researchers and museums. a culinary crisis is spreading in norway after the popularity of a fat, rich diet fad has eaten up the country's stockpiles of butter. we're serious. bad weather and poor harvest are also being blamed. butter is sold on norway's top auction website for roughly four times the normal asking price. just bizarre. and lava is flowing through a nearly abandoned neighborhood on the big island of hawaii. the molten rock heads towards the ocean. the kilauea volcano has been erupting continuously since 1983. now here's a look at wall street. the dow opens at 11,997 after skidding 198 points yesterday. the s&p sank 26 points. the nasdaq tumbled 52. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei dropped 127 128 points while in hong kong the hang seng plunged 521.

well, disappointing news out of europe's financial summit sent stocks into a nose dive thursday. shares fell early after the european central bank president said there was no plan for large-scale purchasing of european government bonds. recent remarks led markets to believe the bank would buy bonds if no one else did. the effects were immediate, both here and abroad. the yield on italy's ten-year bond soared half a percentage point. spain's ten-year yield rose 0.3. before the closing bell. another blow, germany rejected key measures to add power to the european bailout fund. the dollar and u.s. treasuries rose on a shift to safe assets. financials, which have thrived of late, were hit hardest. morgan stanley particularly exposed to europe tumbled. jpmorgan chase slid the worse of any stock on the dow. euro anxiety had investors overlooking good news at home. unemployment claims dropped and wholesale companies increased inventory to expectation of

stronger sales. on the downside, household wealth fell for a second straight quarter. mcdonald's, the dow's only gainer, rose on strong same store global revenue. costco fell on disappointing earnings. watch texas instruments today. after hours, ti cut quarterly outlook. warned of low demand. wells fargo is paying $148 million to settle claims it overcharged on state and local government investments. and finally, coca-cola moved its secret formula for the first time since 1925, from a bank vault to a new exhibit at the company's downtown atlanta museum. but the 1886 formula itself remains hidden from view. so, you're out of luck there. coming up, albert says so long to st. louis. the nba says no way. and a very embarrassing moment at baseball's winter meetings. plus, big ben takes a licking but comes back to lead the

steelers to a victory. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. and the weekend forecast is looking great. chillier than we'd like but overall no travel trouble. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today."

in sports, quite simply the los angeles angels spent more money in a day than any team has in the history of baseball. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. >> good morning. albert pujols made a decision and he's heading west. agreed to a ten year, $254 million deal with the angels. angels definitely the dark horse in the pujols race but when the marlins dropped out and cards offered him $220 million, the angels upped the ante to $254 and pujols couldn't turn that down. they also signed the best free agent pitcher on the market, lefty c.j. wilson, five years, $77.5 million to cap off a monster day in anaheim. nba lakers had a trade in place for the hornets' chris paul then commissioner stern stepped in and said, not so fast. the deal involved three teams, sending paul to lakers, gasol to rockets and the hornets would get lamar odom, luis scola, kevin martin and draft picks.

after an uproar from nba owners, stern vetoed the deal. hornets are owned by the league. the owners thought it was an unfair deal. i'm sure we are not heard the last of them. no trade in the nfl but steelers did lose ben roethlisberger for a while. against the browns he was sacked and twisted his ankle. already playing with a broken thumb, now he left the game with a high ankle sprain. he called it the worst pain he'd ever felt. but in true roethlisberger style he rubbed dirt on it and returned in the second half. he threw two touchdowns. antonio brown here and he did the rest. 79 yards down the sideline. steelers won it 14-3, thanks to a gutsy performance by their quarterback. finally back to baseball where angels weren't the only ones making a big splash. keeping an eye to the right of the mlb tv set, a man took a spill into a reflecting pool. all we know is that his name is steve. i'm not sure what his friend are calling him. perhaps scuba steve after this. thankfully he was just fine. just a little washed up. that's your early look at sports on "early today." have a great weekend. i'm fred roggin.

>> i hate it when that happens. coming up, two new films at the box office this weekend. which one will finish on top? your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, it may look like your average middle school mascot but there's actually something very special about this one. you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this friday

morning, to "early today," a nice quiet weekend forecast for most of us. it's a chilly morning, low 40s for much of the pacific northwest. heading through california, it looks like a good day, this afternoon, mid 50s around san francisco, l.a., we'll try to get you to the mid to upper 60s. on saturday, we may see a little bit of precipitation in the northwest. not a lot. it doesn't look too significant. by the time we get to sunday, that's when we should see the next storm system heading into california. it's not going to ruin your weekend it looks nice in most areas. two new films as far as what we're doing for your event of the day, the solstice masquerade. stonington gallery from 6 :00 to 8:00. well, now here's an early look at this morning headlines in entertainment. there's a hodgepodge of hollywood heavy weights that will find themselves atop the box office chart this weekend. despite truly awful reviews the star-studded ensemble comedy "new year's eve" is set to open with $20 million, featuring

sarah jessica parker, halle berry, ashton kutcher and even robert de niro. jonah hill brings r-rated comedy back to the box office in "the sitter" expected to take second in teen millions. katy perry who hosts this weekend's "snl" admits to being a little stalkerish to kristin wiig. last time she was on "snl," she tweeted she wanted wiig's hair and she sent her one tied up in a blue bow. finally, the color-matching company the pantone color institute announced thursday the shade of orange they're calling tangerine tango will be 2012's top fashion color of the year. and fashionista bill will have to take note. >> tango -- >> i'm trying to picture a nice

suit in that color. >> that's so ron burgundy. that would be fantastic. >> we're going back to the '70s. >> welcome. >> this comes to us from wpsd, local 6 news in paducah, kentucky, where a homecoming soldier added school spirit. sergeant anthony huddleson returned from iraq early. his daughters had no clue, so he and his wife devised a plan to break the news. dressed as a lion mascot, he showed up at the school pep rally. he revealed himself and the girls, as you can imagine, were very excited, ran from the stands to welcome home their dad for the home days. very sweet there. i'm lynn berry and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

it looks like mexico city is bringing out the true meaning of christmas. the capital's aztec stadium has been filled with dirt paths and humble stone houses. all resembling ancient bethlehem making it the world's largest nativity scene. it contains over 1,000 life-size figures and costs over $2 million to contrive. in china, one local dog has a knack for the family business. the 4-year-old pup helps run his owner's grocery store. the pooch chases customers down to make sure they're settling their tab and can even help collect money from customers. always eager to carry goods and assist customers, the pup has become somewhat of a local

celebrity. and finally, a remarkable story that even has medical experts baffled. listen to this. 27-year-old monique thrived as a hand cyclist after being paralyzed from the waist down, but after being hit by a bike during training, she suddenly regained feeling in her leg and was able to walk again. after months of rehab, the paralympic silver cyclist is training for the 2016 games on an able-bodied bike. isn't that amazing. >> how? >> they don't know. it's really -- we say miraculous and we take it literally because she was struck -- whatever it did, knocked the life back into her legs. >> she was moving a lot better than i do. >> i know. looking forward to the 2016 games. time for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc. it's macy's national believe day aiming to inspire generosity throughout the holiday season. with the make-a-wish foundation, more than 55 children with life-threatening conditions will have their wishes granted,

including a 6-year-old boy who will go on an african safari. apple will open one of the biggest retail stores in manhattan's grand central terminal. the 23,000 square foot store will have a toned down design to conform to the station's famous architecture. demonstrators protesting minerals used in the iphone will be on hand as well. and actor kirk douglas turns 95. all day long you can stay on top of the latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. tonight be sure to watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news." here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. nbc's chief justice correspondent pete williams reports live from virginia with the latest details on the shooting at virginia tech. and charlize theron talks about her new comedy "young adult." 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. the day today on your nbc station. have a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com