about everyone. snow in many places falling at more two inches an hour. piling up too fast for shovels or plows to keep up. driving was next to impossible even for some of the street crews. parts of i-70 were shut down because of the weather and so were airports across the region. >> i first walked in, i saw the line here, and i said this cannot be good. >> reporter: deicing quickly gave way to hundreds of canceled flights, travelers stranded but this massive winter system is still on the move. >> well, this storm is not done as we head on towards the end of the week and the weekend we could see another substantial snow in new england. >> reporter: the next target for a storm that's already made a mess, that more than 30 million people are dealing with across 20 states. jay gray, nbc news, kansas city. in south africa, it's looking like decision day for oscar pistorius. a judge is likely to rule today if the former olympic star will be released on bail pending a murder trial.

he's back in court after a fourth day of hearings after a week full of allegations and twists. nbc's jim maceda joins us from london. what can we expect today? >> reporter: hi. the judge who is overseeing this bail hearing said he'll make an announcement very soon, probably within 30 to 45 minutes if s osr put pistons, the sprinter known to the world as the blade runner will be free on bail or will he stay in jail until that trial which could take months. both sides, the prosecution and defense have rested their case after four days that have seen a real momentum shift in pistorius' favor especially after yesterday's bombshell when we learned that the lead investigator laying out the case actually against pistorius is himself facing seven charges of attempted murder.

the defense had already at that point forced the investigator to back down on many points even admitting pistorius' story is plausible. in a state of panic he could have shot his girlfriend, killed his girlfriend, reeva steenkamp by mistake thinking her to be a dangerous intruder. the prosecution says that pistorius killed reeva steenkamp in cold blood, he has a history of violent behavior and freeing him on bail would give him a chance to flee the country. the defense has counter pistorius will not flee he's too well-known to do that. in a bail hearing that's had all the drama and detail of an actual trial we should be finding out very shortly if oscar pistorius is spending the next several months as a free man or as a prisoner. back to you. >> thanks. well, president obama is now working the phones to try to spur congress into action in the looming fiscal crisis.

and it comes one week before $85 billion and the budget cuts kick in. the white house said mr. obama called house speaker john boehner and senate gop leader mitch mcconnell yesterday, discussions were described as good but not progress. hundreds of thousands are looking at layoffs and smaller paychecks if those cuts take effect. and the stalemate has taken to twitter for the president's increase in taxes and spending reductions. late thursday john boehner's spokeman tweeted to white house press secretary jay carney, quote was it balanced when the president got $600 billion in revenue with no spending cuts just last month? well, carney replied, saying in part, back in the real world, the president has signed $2.5 trillion in deficit reduction. now, to a developing story in nevada where the manhunt continues this morning for the driver of a black range rover sport involved in a deadly shootout on the vegas strip. three people were killed including rapper kenneth cherry jr. after an altercation.

police said the chase led to a car-to-car shooting spree with a maserati racing toward a red light. the maserati crashed into a taxi which burst into flames killing both drivers and a passenger. at least six others were injured. and now for a look at your weekend weather here's bill karins. good morning. >> huge storm yesterday. brought kansas city it's biggest snowfall in 20 years. wichita top five snowstorm all time. it was a big storm. it's weakening this morning. travel impacts are minimized. the kansas city airport is open after being closed yesterday. as far as the storm goes in the west, this is a new storm coming in, the one in the midwest we're done with. this storm will bring significant rain today and heavy mountain snow up in the cascades. the storm itself is moving into areas of british columbia the front will drag through and a good plume of moisture. the winds will kick up ahead of this. you can see on the radar we're dealing with some rain on the coastal areas.

little bit of snow in the last hour or two, intensifying over the mountains of the cascades. there's winter storm warnings and advisories. make sure you check if there's any change north. to the south rain has yet to develop down i-5 towards portland. rainfall many amounts estimated between half an toinch an inch in numerous areas. mountains all snow. the coast could get two inches. winds could gust 40 to 50 miles per hour even in the valley. windy, rainy day today in the northwest. that will end by late afternoon. we're okay down in areas of california and arizona that storm stays to the north and doesn't to 50 miles per hour. rain.

ugly morning. we get showers over the weekend. i'll give you full weekend forecast. all eyes on the red carpet what that forecast looks like. brazen former chicago cop drew peterson screams out in court during sentencing. and meet the country's number one deadbeat parent who owes $1.2 million in child support. and stupid criminals strike again, this time they screwed up stealing the atm machine. you're watching "early today."

welcome back. here are some other stories making news this morning. chuck hagel now has the 60 senate votes needed to be confirmed as the nation's next defense secretary after winning support from richard shelby of alabama who took part in the filibuster. a vote is expected tuesday. meanwhile, 15 republican senators have sent a letter to president obama urging him to withdraw hagel's nomination saying he lacks broad bipartisan support. former illinois cop drew peterson has been sentenced to 38 years in prison for the 2004

murder of his third wife kathleen savio. in a rare courtroom outburst 59-year-old screamed, "i did not kill kathleen." peterson is still a suspect in the 2007 disappearance of his fourth wife stacy. a crewless russian cruise ship is adrift in the ocean after the cable snapped twice while being towed. the ghost ship has no power lights making it a threat to other vessels. the ship's owner is in talks with salvage companies to locate and retrieve it. massive mutant gold fish are being found in lake tahoe. scientists believe they were dumped there by aquarium owners and could have a negative impact on the lake's species. who knew they could get that big. and the deadbeat dad. robert sand pleaded guilty to owing the court $1.2 million for three children from two failed marriages. speaking of money let's look at wall street. the dow opened at 13,888.

after losing another 46 points on thursday. the s&p fell 9. and the nasdaq dropped 32. today tokyo's nikkei picked up 76 points, but in hong kong the hang seng lost 24. will stocks break their slump heading into the weekend? the s&p 500 is poised for the first weekly decline of the year while the dow is staring down a third week of losses that hasn't happened in three months. there's no economic data and few earnings on deck to move the needle for abercrombie & fitch and "the washington post." keep an eye on hewlett-packard, the pc maker's quarterly results topped expectations. the tax code gave and the tax code tooketh away at walmart. fourth quarter earnings were up thanks to corporate tax credits but higher payroll taxes and delayed refunds took a toll on its bottom line. a two-year study finds a staggering third of seafood sold in grocery stores and restaurants are mislabelled.

snapper and tuna were the biggest culprits. snapper misrepresented a whopping 87% of the time. united airlines says its boeing dreamliners won't fly until at least june 5th. meanwhile japanese investigators say they found the cause of fuel leaks and other problems but still investigating the 787's more serious battery issues. americans who have a tv hooked up to a camera will be counted in nielsen ratings. the move comes a day after a bold move by billboard. we'll have more on that in entertainment. good news for america's wine industry, new figures show wine exports set a record of more than $1.4 billion in revenue last year. and before you clean those wine glasses a national survey conducted by a home appliance maker found more than 40% of americans fight about loading the dishwasher. 61% argue about whether dishes should be pre-rinsed or not. they say do not prerinse because the detergent needs to clean your food to avoid scratching your dishes. here i've been doing it wrong

all along. well, coming up, they won $7 million after stopping at the favorite casino of their dearly departed friend. details coming up next.

welcome back. now to some other stories that caught our eye this morning. we start in indianapolis where a brazen robbery attempt left the crooks empty handed. the heist got off to a slippery

start after prying the atm machine free proved difficult. the robbers fled the scene without a penny for their work. next, to santa fe where some teenagers' horseplay turned dangerous. a snow ball fight between two ski lift riders came to a scary finish. a 17-year-old boy slipped from his seat and held on for dear life. despite a 40-foot drop, the teenage skier suffered only minor injuries and is reportedly doing okay. in ohio, a local landlord pleaded not guilty on charges of assault after whipping his tenant with a belt. the 28-year-old tenant owes his landlord close to $3,000. he hoped the whipping would allow him more time to pay. well, a michigan man visited mississippi for a friend's funeral and came back with $7.2 million. on the way home, he stopped by his late friend's favorite casino to play the penny slots and he hit it big. he believed his friend's spirits led him to that machine. >> back to indiana. double the grads are twice as

nice. seniors at carmel high school are hoping to set a record for the most successive twins in one graduating class. the 17 pairs topped the current record of 16. now all they do is wait for the call. turning to sports. nascar's danica patrick is all the rage ahead of this week's daytona 500 where she'll take the pole position, a first for female drivers. in the nba, tony parker speeds his way to a diving lay-up and draws the foul. the spurs beat the clips 160-90, improving to an nba best 22-10 record. the miami heat continue to show why they're the beasts of the east. check out this alley-oop from king james to chris bosh. the heat went on for their ninth straight win, 86-67. in the ncaa, cal, justin cobbs working one-on-one on jonathan lloyd, he drove the jumper with less than a second for the win. cal, 48, oregon 46. and on this day in 1980, the miracle on ice.

most americans alive that day remember where they were when the united states olympic hockey team defeated the heavily favored soviets in the semifinals of the lake placid winter classic game. the u.s. would of course go on to win the gold. >> announcer: "early today" sports is brought to you by touch of gray. get rid of some gray. never all. just ahead, spoiler alert for the academy awards. we've got a source that has a 97% accuracy record for picking oscars' winners. coming up next.

welcome back. the weekend forecast is kind of split. the northwest getting a big rain storm and windstorm. today we'll continue with damp with showery type weather. down in the south we won't warm up too much in california. 69 in l.a. today, 65 in vegas. again the rain and the wind will end this afternoon, at least the heaviest of it in the northwest. saturday behind the front temperatures a little bit cooler. more instability showers. towards the oscars on sunday l.a. looking good not too hot, not too cold. no complaints there at 68 degrees. not bad. that way other not sweating. women won't be too cold. >> good red carpet weather. >> speaking of the oscars -- spoiler alert in entertainment, the oscars may not air until sunday, but we may be able to give you a glimpse of winners. "argo" has an 84% chance of taking home best picture with "lincoln" far behind at 8%. "lincoln's" daniel day-lewis, though, looks like a lock for

best actor with a 93% chance while best actress may be tougher to predict with jennifer lawrence at 60%. in trades predictor has a 90% oscars rating when it documents oscars. josh brolin and diane lane have decided to call it quits after eight years of marriage after reportedly separating a few months ago. rapper wiz khalifa and amber rose welcoming baby sebastian into the world. congratulation. "star trek's" william shatner gets a vote. captain kirk summmoned his 1.3 followers to get a vote. volcan is in the lead. bette midler found herself in a little hot water when she tweeted a poorly tasted oscar pistorius joke where she said looks like pistorius doesn't have a leg to stand on. finally, the harlem shake is number one on the billboard charts. how you ask?

billboard started counting youtube data. just a little too late for gangnam style. >> millions of hits. >> i do move we retire gangnam style. this next one comes from kntv in california's bay area. one couple spent valentine's day in a police station. carlos and barbara stopped at the golden gate bridge before their romantic dinner and found across a lost camera bag with $11,000 inside. it was traced back to a chinese tourist and the bag's owner not only thanked them in person but sent them a check as a reward. >> i'm mara schiavocampo, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

well, it's my favorite time of the week from a high-flying weather man to surprises on the golf course it's time to look back at the week that was. >> reporter: we kicked off the week celebrating presidents' day. alongside the washington monument mascots. and paid homage to presidents in cheesy ways. the current president hit off the golf courses with tiger woods. >> he's got an amazing touch. he can certainly chip and putt. >> the event was closed to press leaving lots of serious questions. >> folks there's a lot of holes in this story, specifically 18 of them. >> we can assume it looked

something like this. meanwhile, michelle obama revealed her new whitehouse portrait. >> this is is my mid-life crisis. >> this guy thinks her new do is a slam dunk. a so-called houdini horse proved she's a talented escape artist. her tricks have racked up thousands of viewers on youtube. a nutty professor at columbia university got online attention, too. and yet nothing shook up the internet more than these. ♪ we learned that driving in russia is terrifying, thanks to dash cams that catch more than just meteors. here in the states, a dash cam caught some shocking moments of its own, luckily, no students were on the bus at the time. and while russia cleaned up its meteor mess, the skies in florida were still lighting up with space debris. and the last one for our own bill karins, we'd never make him fly a stunt plane but this weather man was not so lucky. >> oh my! >> and lights out.

>> that's like jim carrey, the facial impression, forced by gs. >> my favorite of all the clips of the week was the otter. >> i know you liked that. >> it was cool for the fact that he enjoyed doing it. i'm going to try to train my dogs to do something cool. i can't get them to sit. >> we love animal video. if you do it we'll put it on. all day long you can stay on top of the very latest developments on those stories and the best political analysis on msnbc. and tonight, be sure to watch "nbc nightly news" with brian williams. and here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. in today's friday field trips, savannah, willie and al are in miami today. tough assignment and who better to show them around than south florida native pitbull. and flo rida takes over south beach with a live concert. finally on "meet the press" governors deval patrick and bobby jindal of louisiana weigh in on the local governors in washington. 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.

happening now in south africa, the arguments have come to a close in the oscar pistorius bail hearing. we'll have that decision coming up. >> loved a lot by a lot of people. >> and the father of an oakland rapper killed on the las vegas strip opens up about his son's violent death. plus right now students holding a sit in in san francisco city college. what they are hoping to accomplish. we'll have that coming up next. >> a live look on this friday morning. look at the bay bridge all  illuminated. the debut of those lights.

just for you. this is "today in the bay." it's just about 4:31 on the nose. what day is it again? >> friday. >> it is friday. say it loud. it feels good to say it again. hi, everybody. i'm jon kelley. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. we do love being together but we do love our weekends, don't we? let's check in on the forecast with meteorologist christina loren. >> a good looking weekend shaping up and a great looking friday. i'm so happy to report that you can make outdoor plans this weekend with a clear conscience. 39 to start the day in san jose. 41 in oakland. 37 in santa rosa. headed toward the mid to upper 60s. that sounds nice. feels good saying that. let's check your drive on a feel-good friday. good morning. >> folks are feeling freer traveling northbound