dakotas yesterday. near blizzard conditions there. an area that's used to severe winter weather, but this storm has their attention. it's rare they cancel school in minot, but it happened yesterday. it could continue today. as you talked about schools canceled here for at least one day for many of the suburbs and in the city as well. and some expect that will continue into tomorrow. the morning commute not a problem. the roadways are clear. this evening is when it's expected to be a real mess. that's the latest live here from bolingbrook, illinois, south of the city, jay gray. back to you. >> thank you. could get ugly. bill karins will tell us where this storm is going and when it will pass. first, headlines are saying there is some real movement in washington on gun control. a bipartisan group of senators is pushing a bill making gun trafficking a federal crime. the measure would also making gun purchases a federal crime.

part of an aim at reducing gun violence. but gun advocates are not happy. in colorado, supporters of the second amendment protested monday outside the capital. stating legislators are considering regulating assault weapons and enhancing school safety. inside the capitol, former senator gabrielle giffords' husband mark kelly urged lawmakers to pass universal background checks. meanwhile the nra will sponsor nascar's race next month in texas. this premium ad buy has some calling the race the nra 500. some tough talk from vice president biden towards iran and its suspected nuclear program. >> big nations can't bluff. and presidents of the united states cannot and do not bluff. and president barack obama is not bluffing. he is not bluffing. >> addressing a powerful pro-israeli lobbying group monday in washington, the vice

president re-emphasized the add administration's determination to keep iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. mr. biden added they are not looking for war but keeping everything on the table. benjamin netanyahu has repeatedly called the u.s. to keep iran from crossing a so-called red line. police in california are conducting an investigation of a senior living facility where a woman died after a nurse declined to do cpr, refusing to re success tat the 87-year-old woman saying it was against the policy. a 911 call showed the dispatcher begged the nurse to take action. the woman's daughter, who is also a nurse, said she was satisfied with the way the situation was handles. in florida, officials are hoping to start stabilizing the big sinkhole where a man died on thursday. crews demolished the central florida home, revealing a hole 30 feet wide, 60 feet deep. the body of jeff bush is unlikely to be found.

and residents of two nearby homes that were evacuated may never be able to return. just look at that hole. meanwhile, a second smaller sinkhole has been opened up in the same town less than two miles away, but officials say they are not connected. some call the area, though, sinkhole alley, because of how frequently this happens. day four of the sequester and it looks like congress is feeling the first pinch. members are being asked to cut their office budgets by a little more than 8%. lawmakers were warned that could happen if the automatic cuts were not avoided. experts say the average budget for a member of congress stands around $1.4 million a year. meanwhile, the cuts are also starting to affect the flying public. homeland security secretary janet napolitano says the sequester has caused delays in customs line in two major u.s. airports. bill karins joins us on the big storm moving to the mid east. >> another storm moving to the west coast, not as severe impact but it will have problems. we'll show you the travel

timeline for the next two days. the white shows you where the snow is going to be. the pink is where the ice and rain. the green is the plain old rain. you snow the snowstorm will be in full effect durgt day today, essentipecially around chicago,e jay gray was, north of indianapolis, eventually into ohio. it's a narrow band. the storm will come off the east coast as we go through wednesday, wednesday night into thursday. full-fledged nor'easter with coastal flooding concerns. watching heavy snow possibility in washington, d.c. back into the mountains of west virginia and interior sections of new england. on the west coast we have a pretty big storm churning out in the ocean now bringing moisture onshore. not a lot but we'll pick up 0.3 an inch of rain. it's making its way into the valley areas of i-5. bring the umbrella this morning. during the morning rush shower is when the rain showers will begin. temperatures are mild. we'll be up around 50 degrees. with clouds in areas of southern california today, keeping it

cool by your standards only in the low 60s. that's a look you, 56 degrees with lots of sunshine. enjoy. looks like a lot of our travel troubles for much of the country will be over by thursday. >> knock on glass. thank you, bill kaimpbz. imposter sneaks into the vatican. a broke casey anthony lives off kindness and charity. martha stewart back in court. the white house is fighting four your rights as a cell phone customer. we're back in two.

welcome back. here's some other stories making news this morning. in rome, catholic cardinals want answers on allegations of corruption and cronyism before the election of the next pope. but first, they might have to figure out how this man nearly snuck into a meeting by posing as a bishop.

apparently, his phony robes gave him away before he made it inside. the venezuelan government still watching hugo chavez's health, saying, quote, it's in a very delicate state. they say the cancer-stricken leader has a worsening respiratory function. casey anthony was back in a florida court monday for a bankruptcy hearing. the 26-year-old was acquitted in july 2011 of charges she murdered her toddler daughter. 12 former members of the florida a&m marching band are facing manslaughter charges this morning. it stems from the 2011 hazing death of drum major robert champion. all of the suspects could get as much as 15 years in prison if convicted. arkansas governor mike beatty has again rejected the bill for abortions. it outlaws abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy but lawmakers were able to override his previous veto making it illegal to obtain an abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

a woman who claimed the woman who claimed that senator menendez paid her for sex is now recanting. the woman says a local lawyer asked her to help frame the two-term democrat and a top donor. and just in time for an eerie passover, the israeli government has issued a locust alert. that's right, low custs. it comes after millions of the bugs were seen swarming over the egyptian desert headed towards israel. in health news now, women have been blaming their larger shoe sizes on pregnancy for centuries. at last there's scientific proof to back that up. a study found that women sustained a permanent loss of arch height, and that lead to a increase of foot length between 2 and 10 millimeters. researchers say this is why mothers seem more likely to develop arthritis in feet, knees, hips and spines. >> announcer: "early today" health is brought to you by vagisil ph-balanced wash. billionaires, cell phone

rights and the must-have car, if you can afford it. a new mega resort is in works for las vegas strip. a malaysian multinational company plans to spend $37 billion to build a 3500-room asian-themed resort, indoor water park, shopping and possibly a panda exhibit. martha stewart heads back to a new york city courtroom. she's in the middle of a battle between macy's and jcpenney. over who has a right to sell those famous martha stewart brand products. cell phone owners listen up the white house is supporting customer rights for people to be able to unlock their phones. after their contracts have been completed. in spongs to an online petition, obama senior adviser r. david edelman wrote, quote, the white house agrees with the 114,000 plus of you who believe that consumers should be able to unlock their cell phones without risking criminal or other penalties, end quote. could hess gas stations and

the cool trucks be a thing of the past? the company announce they're getting out of the gas station business and will focus on exploration and production. new york city mayor michael bloomberg is famous for his fight on smoking and large sugary drinks but his new campaign is being called the meanest ever. the teen prevention campaign shows a crying kid with the caption "i'm twice as likely not to graduate high school because you had me as a teen." >> if you got a few extra bucks lamborghini has this $6 million kor bone fiber super car. as it reaches 220 miles per hour. yes, lamborghini is making just three of these named the vanono. looks like batman's car. but if the car of your dreams is out of your reach, how about this.

tours of the world 30,000 applicants have each uploaded a 30-second video. winners will get a $100,000, six-month salary including living costs. another hit and run, bad news for the new york yankees and proof that the bible is still popular. plus, harrison ford gets ready to take on ron burgundy. you're watching "early today."

now to some other stories that caught our eye this morning. we begin in iowa with a dramatic car theft caught on tape. the vehicle's owner made a costly mistake while she left her car running. the unidentified thief sped off and struck the female motorist as she attempted to stop the getaway. she suffered minor injuries and police are still searching for that thief. next to virginia where hidden cameras exposed a real estate agent's bizarre crime. police arrested the man after a video footbage showed him stealing underwear from a home for sale. police are investigating a string of similar thefts and believe the underwear bandit may be responsible. and now to new jersey and a traffic jam caused by loose farm animals. three horses and one pony escaped onto the atlantic city expressway reducing rush hour traffic to a crawl. the owner showed up to round up his herd before any drivers or animals were hurt. and massachusetts governor deval patrick took a walk on the wild side. patrick joined on the annual black bear cub survey.

and even played the role of papa bear, keeping two cubs warm as their mother was being tagged. number one in college basketball. for the first time ever washington state's gonzaga is now the nation's top ranked team after indiana lost to minnesota and fell to number two. the zags have been famous for some big wins in the ncaa tournament. and gonzaga is the 57th team to be ranked number one since 1949 when the ap poll began. second overall notre dame's skylar diggins comes off with a steal. start a fast break and puts it up for a layup against number three uconn. irish beat the huskies 96-87 to win the regular season big east title. and senior brittney griner of top-ranked baylor made her 14th career dunk and first at home since her freshman year when she piled up 50 point. a big 12 record, by the way. the lady bears cruised to a 90-68 win over kansas state state. loved watching that. in the nba, milwaukee was down by one point with less than

a minute to play when j.j. redick drained a three-pointer to take the lead and bucks went on to edge utah 109-108. new york star carmelo anthony injured his right knee early in the second quarter and will be checked out today. knicks fell behind but came back in the fourth against cavaliers for a 102-97 victory. and the new york yankee's brian cashman broke his leg jumping out of the plane with golden knights of the u.s. army as part of a fund-raiser for the wounded warrior project. no word yet on how long cashman might be on the disabled list. just ahead, whitney houston's fbi file is released. 128 pages of fascinating details next.

bet you can appreciate your morning commute compared to this one. this is minneapolis at this hour. got a little reporter driving with their camera out the front window. so far they've got 3 to 4 inches, expecting up to 8 in minnesota during the morning hours today. as far as the west goes, won't see any snow like that unless you're up on mt. shasta. we are watching rain move into coastal washington and now it's on i-5. we'll have a wet day with the front coming through. temperatures are not that bad but about a third of an inch of rain in the big cities. tomorrow looks to be a little more but showers more widespread. >> as long as we don't have black ice.

that's what we don't like. >> yeah. that would be dangerous to drive on. >> thanks, bill. turning now to the entertainment news, the fbi has released 128 pages of information about late singer whitney houston. those files revealed everything from alleged extortion cases against houston to crazed fan mail, including dozens of letters from a fan who claimed he was truly in love with her. the history channel is making ratings history by setting a record for the miniseries "the bible." more than 13 million tuned in sunday beating out amc's "the walking dead." becoming the number one cable entertainment telecast. speaking of ratings winner, masterpiece classic "downton abbey" released a fourth photo. according to "hollywood reporter" harrison ford has signed on for veteran newscaster, similar to tom brokaw. in anchorman news, paul rudd debuted his movie mustache on the "today" show. he did that yesterday. we think it suits him quite well. looking forward to that,

actually. >> which one? >> "anchorman". >> you're on board. you wanted it? >> i want to see it. why not? the original was great. >> i don't want them to ruin -- the first one is kind of a classic. don't ruin it. >> who put that question mark there? this comes to us from wvit in new hartford, connecticut, where the dancing lift operator shows off signature moves. he busts a move eight hours a day grooving in place as he keeps a close eye on the safety of the skiers shuffling and sliding all day long. he says dancing makes the day move a little quicker. where's the harlem shake there? skiers enjoy the number as well, sharing a smile. i'm richard lui, this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

one tragic mystery may finally be resolved. a team of experts now say the explosion that brought down the hindenburg in 1937 was caused by a combination of static electricity and a buildup of hydrogen. the airship was preparing to land when a spark ignited the craft and it burst into flames. 36 people died in that explosion. a painter in northern india is setting records with his unusual choice for a paint brush. if you can believe this. this self-portrait was created using a single hair. a beard hair, grown for eight long months. specifically for this project. yeah. the artist wanted to do something unique, and art critics are impressed even with no formal training his work has made it to six museums and counting. but how long -- mean, just one

hair -- >> slow. well, batman may be packing on a few extra pounds these days, according to security footage from the uk. police released photo hes of a caped crusader. he may be out of shape but that didn't stop him from nabbing the suspected perp. the suspect was slapped with fraud-related charges. >> the perp's outfit isn't much better. >> both hilarious. what characters. time for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow five candidates are looking to replace antonio villaraigosa. a runoff between the top two will be held in may. the senate intelligence committee could vote on john brennan to be the next cia director. dianne feinstein believes he has enough votes to move to

the full senate although he could be blocked by republicans over lingering questions about consulate talk in benghazi. penn gillette of penn and teller turns 58 today. all day long 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, finally, here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at all the lethal weapons seized at airports every day. and "30 rock" tina fey tells savannah about her new romantic comedy "admission" and steamy shower scene with actor paul rudd. that's it for us. now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm richard lui along with bill kari karins. thanks for watching "early today." just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a great tuesday.

set sail. a stolen yacht is on the move once again this morning. find out how crews were able to set it free and where it's headed right now. >> you couldn't forget. >> family and friends remembering the south bay teenager gunned down in campbell's first homicide in more than five years. and the man now charged with keeping the oakland police department in line. right now let's give you an early morning look at sfo. that's from our trusty san bruno cam on a tuesday, march 5th. this is "today in the bay."

it is 4:30. almost 4:31. good morning. i'm jon kelley. >> i'm marla tellez in for laura garcia-cannon. let's get a look at the forecast in for christina loren. good morning. >> good morning. off to a quiet start right now. a little chilly in parts of the bay area. some 30s and 40s this morning. a little bit cooler than yesterday as the skies have cleared in parts of the north bay. not much wind right now except in the hilltops. that will change later this afternoon as we watch clouds spilling in during the day. rain picking up after sundown tonight and gusty winds up to 30 miles per hour approaching the evening. today upper 50s to low 60s for highs. the bottom line is for your morning commute, the weather is looking okay for now. let's find out if things are looking okay otherwise with mike. >> because of the weather looking okay and traffic is getting help and we have caltrans crews which do overnight construction between oakland, coliseum and downtown. they are starting to pick up early. let's look over at the map. no flashing