today the students of sandy hook elementary return to the classroom for the first time since a gunman killed 26 of their classmates and teachers. bipartisan fury over speaker boner delaying a vote on financial relief for hurricane sandy victims. hillary clinton out of the hospital. al gore profits from al jezeera. and these guys were just hoping to score some cash the old-fashioned way by stealing it. "early today" starts right now. >> announcer: this is "early today" for thursday, january 3rd, 2013. good morning, i'm mara schiavocampo. it's sure to be an emotionally charged back-to-school morning today for the students who survived that horrific shooting in sandy hook elementary in newtown, connecticut. it will be their first time back

to class since the massacre three weeks ago that claimed 26 lives. nbc's jay gray is live in monroe, connecticut, where the students will be attending a different school. jay, good morning. >> reporter: hey there, good morning to you, mara. the new school here is about seven miles from sandy hook elementary in monroe. it was an empty middle school that crews for the last few weeks have been working to refurbish, just one of many changes here in this community since this tragedy. a fresh blanket of snow covers the spot where a mountain of stuffed animals, candles and flowers once stood. a sign that led to sandy hook elementary was pulled from its hinges, but this morning there will be school again. >> i'm not sure how we're going to react to it. it's going to be hard. >> reporter: most everything has been difficult since the attack that killed 20 students and six

teachers. in a town seven miles away, survivors will be here again. >> they want to see their teachers, they want to get back to classes. they want to get back into their routine. >> reporter: furniture and book bags put back in the same exact places when the students rushed out. the sign outside has even been changed. >> if we can do anything to bring some type of normalcy or normal living environment for these teach ers that teach in i, we're happy to do it. >> reporter: still, most in the struggling community understand. little will be normal. >> we've actually installed numerous different security devices at this school. we're going to remain in our presence on location until further notice. >> reporter: counselors will also be in place as teachers, students and family all try to find a balance between what's been lost and how to try and move on. and today should mark a huge step in that process. it can also get kind of crowded

in the new school today as parents will be allowed to stay with their kids as long as necessary. so they can really help each other in an idea of going back to class. i'm jay gray, mara, back to you now. >> thank you, jay, very much. well, today the 113th congress will be sworn in. they will decide if john boehner can continue as speaker and lawmakers have plenty of unfinished worked to. tracie potts is in washington, will this new conditioning be able to get up to speed quickly? >> reporter: they don't have a choice. they have the debt ceiling and the deficit. the 113th congress takes its oath this afternoon with 56 new democrats, 38 new republicans and a record number of women. the youngest, hawaii's 31-year-old iraq war vet and the first hindu ever elected. john boehner is expected to be

re-elected speaker today but 17 conservatives could derail that. he's already announced the first order of business, a vote friday to provide billions to victims of super storm sandy. >> the bottom line is that between friday morning and january 15th a few votes will bring this $60 billion if absolutely necessary to new york, new jersey and connecticut. >> reporter: also top on their agenda, raising the debt ceiling so america can borrow more to pay its bills. republicans will insist on cutting spending first. >> the president is addicted to spending. he wants to spend, he wants a new credit card after he's maxed out the last one. >> if the president thinks that he's not going to negotiate, he better think again. he's president of the united states. he's not emperor of the planet. >> reporter: the last time congress fought over the debt ceiling the u.s. saw the first ever credit downgrade. >> it may take a default, another downgrade and the serious economic consequences that flow from it to jolt us

back to some kind of reality. >> reporter: a new congress with old issues still undecided. >> and that was nbc's tracie potts. in aurora, colorado, family members of victims from this summer's movie theater shooting are disgusted by the theater's plans to reopen. cinemark plans to show a movie in the theater where 12 people were injured and 58 injured when a gunman opened fire on july 20th. in the letter eight of the victims' families say plans to go back to business as usual are appalling and returning to the theater would be like entering a slaughterhouse. >> none of us are interested in ever stepping foot in that theater, that killing field, ever again. and to assume that we would warm to that idea is really astonishing to me. >> the families say they're organizing a boycott of the event. city officials say a community survey showed support for reopening the theater.

secretary of state hillary clinton is out of the hospital after several days of treatment for a blood clot in a vein near her brain. clinton left the new york hospital with bill and chelsea by her side. she was admitted on sunday during a follow-up care for a concussion she suffered after fainting. clinton was treated with blood thinners. doctors say she'll have to be closely monitored in the coming days and weeks to make sure the clot is not growing. and now for a look at the weather, meteorologist bill karens is joining us. good morning. >> good morning. we are slowly getting into the new year. everyone is adjusting to going back to work and school and everyone is there with me. as far as the weather going out the door, similar to yesterday. still a very cold, cold morning over areas like reno and tahoe to boise all the way to salt lake city. chilly in medford. portland, 33. seattle, 31. we have a little bit of rain heading your way today. mostly from 3:00 p.m. onwards to portland northwards up to

seattle. everyone else will remain dry. leave the umbrellas at home. the huge area of high pressure is providing you with clear skies, that's why it is so cool here over all of nevada and california. this weak low along the coast will bring up just a little bit of light shower activity. most of you will see a quarter inch or more. is there more cold air on the way? this tracks the cold air from the arctic over the next seven days. you can see the blue shows where the cold is. it looks like for the most part throughout the upcoming weekend, much of the country warms up. then a little sliver of cold air comes down at us it. looks like tuesday, wednesday and thursday of next week and probably significantly kind of cold in areas of idaho and montana and near spokane. again, that's the middle of next week. so we get a little break from this cold spell. then it looks like next week gets chilly in the northwest, but today's forecast again, just a few late-day showers. that's the only weather headline out there. that's a look at the nationalou

california, enjoyable right through the weekend. i don't think you mind the cold so much as long as it is sunny. when you get the cold and cloudy it is a lot worse. >> that does make things worse. thank you, bill. a pair of u.s. drone strikes kill a taliban commander today. stocks soar but moody's issues a warning and this is all caught on tape. plus, iowa's field of dreams from the kevin costner classic has been sold. details are coming up next. you're watching "early today."

welcome back, here are some stories making news this morning. in northern pakistan today, u.s. drone missile strike reportedly hit a house near the afghan border killing a taliban commander and 12 others. speaking of drone attacks, a new york judge rejected a request by "the new york times" and the american civil liberties

union to obtain the obama administration legal justification for such strikes used to kill the suspected terrorists overseas. the united nations said the death toll from syria's 21-month-old civil war is now more than 60,000, that's even higher than estimates made by rebel groups during the syrian army. interesting in buying a civil launchpad. nasa is selling space in the building first used to put together saturn v rockets for the apollo program. and for the first time, astronomers studying a newborn star got a first glimpse of the planet forming around it. there's a giant gas in the disk of materials surrounding the star and using gravity surrounding the gap help the star to grow. well, the first day of trading for 2013 had stocks on a tear following the fiscal cliff deals on capitol hill. the dow opens at 13,412 after

surging 308 points yesterday. the s&p shot up 36. and the nasdaq leaped 92. overseas, the nikkei was closed for a holiday, but the hang seng rose 86. the fiscal cliff deal isn't all good news. moody's investor services warned that if a viable plan to shrink our deficit isn't reached in the next few months the government's credit rating could be at risk. al jazeera could be coming to a tv near you. former vice president al gore has sold current tv, the channel he co founded, to al jazeera. the plan is to use existing distribution to broadcast to u.s. viewers. one interesting note, as soon as the deal was announced time warner cable said they would drop the channel from their 12 million subscribers. polaroid seems to be developing a new business plan. the company will be opening several retail shops called photo bars where people can come in the store to download and print pictures. there will even be photo tenders

to help people with the process. if you build it, they will buy it. the famous iowa baseball diamond from the iconic movie "field of dreams" has been sold for $3.4 million. the new owners plan to transform the landmark into 24 youth baseball fields. water levels have dropped ten feet in the last six months along america's shipping superhighway. if parts of the mississippi river don't rise soon, shipping could come to a halt along with 8,000 jobs for the month of january alone. the mighty miss handles and enormous amount of cargo. a typical tow boat loads about 15 loaded barges. it would take 6 locomotives or 1,050 tractor trailers with the same amount of goods. that's how important this river is. one of the nfl's most dominant and fiercest players is calling it quits. a dolphin that picks football winners. and the cowboys and redskins produce ratings gold. plus, not one but two different sets of thieves try to

steal atm machines. we'll have the details as we go across america. you're watching "early today."

welcome back. here's a look at some other stories making news across america. in texas, surveillance video captured a brazen atm smash and grab. you can see a pickup truck plowing into the building before

the thieves made off with the machine packed with $4,000 cash. even worse, the damage to the store is estimated to be between $10,000 and $20,000. no arrests have been made. it was a similar scene in tennessee when a van backed through the front door of a market. security cameras captured two men jumping out and loading the atm into the van. authorities later recovered that stolen vehicle minus the atm machine. the two men are still at large. police in georgia have released security video of a school board official intentionally running down a 17-year-old girl in a walmart parking lot just to get a spot. authorities say the teen was trying to save the space for a teen when she got hit. fortunately, she was not injured. the 41-year-old driver was arrested and charged with reckless conduct. finally in washington state, we're getting an aerial view of tons of japanese tsunami debris that washed up last month. among it, an entire dock with japanese writing on it. there's no word when it will be removed. another dock washed up in oregon earlier this year.

to sports, we kick off with a big upset in college football n the sugar bowl, number 21 louisville returned an interception on the first play and scored four more times as they knocked off third-ranked florida, 33-23. tonight, it's the fiesta bowl in glendale, arizona, with fourth ranked oregon facing number five kansas state. and a dolphin named flipper who correctly predicted florida state's win in the orange bowl tuesday is predicting a winner of the national champ shim ship game monday. by a nose, and with a nose, flipper says notre dame will beat alabama. in college basketball, number 7 syracuse rolled over rutgers 78-53. coach jim boeheim of the orange passed bob knight for second place on the all-time win list with 903 trailing only duke's mike krzyzewski. he has 940 victories. in the nfl ray lewis says he will retire after the season. the ravens play the colts on sunday. sunday night's

redskins/cowboys game was the highest rated regular broadcast in the washington, d.c. market since 1987. and nationally the highest ever on nbc. and red skins coach mike san nan was interrupted in a news conference by quarterback robert griffin iii who asked his coach a question. >> what did you do for new year's? >> tried to put a good game plan together. i wasn't sure how healthy you were. so it was hard without you calling me. you got me good. >> and by the way, the redskins won. they move on to the playoffs. the cowboys go home. just ahead "hunger games" actress jennifer lawrence with the naked truth about acting. plus, they're called harriet and ozzie. we'll explain why they've got a million viewed next on this thursday morning on "early today."

welcome back on this thursday morning. we are watching cool temperatures again, winter hats and coats. pretty nice in southern california. almost near 70 degrees in l.a. northern california, more clouds, temperatures struggle into the 50s. a few showers in seattle and portland. looking towards tomorrow, a dry day just about everywhere. temperatures very similar to today. if you want to talk about somewhere to go if you want the sunglasses handy for five or six days in a row, at least san diego is looking really nice this upcoming weekend with temperatures up near 70 degrees. enjoy. >> i'm jealous. sounds nice in san diego. thanks. "hunger games" star jennifer lawrence doesn't think too highly of her profession. in an interview with "vanity fair," the actress said quote, not to sound rude but acting is stupid. j. law went on to say while firefighters are saving lives, quote, i'm making movies, it's

stupid. speaking of stupid, sales of kim kardashian's sex tape have spiked 80% since her pregnancy announcement. the recent spike is the biggest in sales since she married kris humphries. ray jay is also getting a cut of every sale. pop and country singer patti page died on new year's day at the age of 85. page sold more than 100 million albums over her career which included chart toppers "how much is that dog in the window?" and "tennessee waltz." news has come out that simon cowell is not happy with britney spears who wanders around aimlessly and acts like she's in her own world. she's still making music and sells a lot of records and tours. >> it is like a p.r. thing to see who the next host will be. when they are not in the season, they want people to speculate who the celebrity will be next. >> it is not also a formula for

success. >> american idol is trying to do the same thing. >> they are all figuring it out. this next one comes from to us from wabc news in fort myers, florida. one chick makes its debut. an eagle nest racked up more than 1 million viewers who followed two eagles nicknamed ozzie and harriet. last month, harriet laid two eggs and as you can see one of them finally hatched. harriet was seen feeding her baby eaglet. still to be seen is arrival of baby number two. this will be big breaking news. >> it will be. on your twitter account. >> i'm mara schiavocampo. this is "early today." just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

well, it's summer down under and australians are celebrating in a big way. a giant rubber duck floated through sydney harbor this morning. part of the rehearsal -- i will not sing on live television, i draw the line there. the rehearsal for the upcoming festival looking to turn the harbor into a giant bathtub. organizers say the duck could float on a test run. the duck took three weeks to make and over three hours to inflate. well, elephants in germany received their christmas presents only they weren't under the tree. zookeepers treated the pachyderms to a feast of evergreens to celebrate the holidays. however, the elephants won't eat anything decorated in someone's home so these trees were fresh and green. they are picky, apparently.

the elephants had to perform exercises to earn their reward. it may look like a scuba helmet, but one pillow is built for even the busiest lifestyle. a spanish company has a clever new design for what they call the ostrich pillow. the over-the-head model allows for rest anywhere, anytime, and is equipped for holes for breathing and hand rests. the company says their product caters to a wide market of busy, sleepy people. it's funny, i think i've actually seen this advertised in the catalogs in airplanes and when you're traveling, because you can use them on an airplane. >> let's get one. we'll take a flight and then you can videotape it and get everyone's reaction. >> no, i want you to wear it live on the set. time for a look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc. the state of new hampshire turns pink today so to speak, as one woman is sworn in as governor while other women become the

state's two representatives in congress and two others take the oath as senators. new hampshire is the first state in history to send an all female delegation to washington. almost one year ago, senator mark kirk suffered a stroke and had to learn to walk again. he will walk up the steps of the capitol to the senate door. and on this day in 1938, president franklin d. roosevelt established the march of dimes campaign to fight polio, the crippling disease he was inflicted with. >> all day long you can stay on top of those stories and the best political annualnist on msnbc. and tonight, be sure to watch "nbc nightly news" with brian williams. and here's what's coming up later on the "today" show. the very latest on secretary of state hillary clinton recovery now that she's been released from the hospital. and al roker opens up about his struggle over weight loss and what he says is the biggest challenge for keeping those pounds off. now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm mara schiavocampo. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of

the day today on your nbc station. have a good one.